


Star Vs. The Finale

by Skleero



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Action & Romance, F/M, Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 20:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 43,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4891912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skleero/pseuds/Skleero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Star is ready to become a Queen and she will soon leave Earth to pursue her royal duties on Mewni. Despite being more than happy for his magical friend, Marco realizes that he may also have deeper (and unspoken) feelings for her. Things get a bit more complicated when an ancient evil, Lord Deimor, threatens to unleash a destructive force known as "The Darkness" and put an end to the entire Universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. (Prologue) - Fairytales

**Author's Note:**

> Also known as "Star Vs. The Forbidden Dimension", this fan fiction is tentatively written to look and sound like a big "series finale" for the show, hence the "finale" in the title. It's also supposed to be a love letter to the animated series, its characters and the Starco Trash (which I'm part of). The entire story was planned back in January/February 2015 (a couple of weeks after SVTFOE's special preview on Disney Channel), but as more episodes aired, more elements were subsequently added to fit the show's actual canon.
> 
> Since English is not my first language, the writing itself may be a bit sloppy/cheesy sometimes, but I still hope you're going to enjoy the story, despite its flaws (feel free to correct me harshly in the comments).
> 
> Thanks in advance for reading!

**Chapter 1 (Prologue) - Fairytales**

It was a beautiful night.  
The sky was crystal clear, no clouds in sight.  
Stars were shining brightly, glittering like tiny diamonds, still perfectly visible despite the dazzling light of the two moons.

The entire Kingdom of Mewni was asleep, not a single soul walking around: the moonlit alleys were completely deserted and even otherwise lively and crowded nightspots such as the Gryphon's Inn or the Three-headed Unicorn were closed.

Overlooking the peaceful town was the huge Royal Palace of Mewni, an enormous building adorned by tall dome-covered towers, undeniably the Kingdom's most interesting sight.

People living in the palace were privileged with a stunning a view of the Kingdom from above, a view that anyone would spend hours admiring; and that's exactly what a 5-years old princess was doing right now, despite being late night. Alone in her room, lights off, silently looking out the window, the young princess Star Butterfly was dreaming about a life of adventures, exploring faraway worlds and dimensions, fighting enemies and defeating evil forces. But she was too young to even leave the Royal Palace alone.  
She was so completely lost in her imagination, dreamily admiring that stunning view of the moonlit Mewni, that she didn't even notice the adult figure looming darkly behind her.

"Star Butterfly!"

An angry woman's voice echoed in the room, taking Star off guard. The princess let off a tiny scream as she realized what happened.

"I thought you were asleep one hour ago!" – the woman continued.

The young princess had no real excuse. Hugging her stuffed animal tight (a lizard-like monster with four eyes), she tried to find a good answer to that.

"I… I'm not tired!"  
"Oh yes you are, young lady…"

Star's mother was not easy to fool anyway: she was the Queen of Mewni after all.  
Smart, sophisticated and a cunning politician, she was considered a role model for both men and women for the Kingdom and, hopefully, for her own daughter as well.  
But Star's personality, despite her young age, was often incompatible with the Queen's devotion to old rules and traditions.

Being awake at night ignoring the curfew was nothing compared to taming wild, dangerous unicorns at the mere age of 4, something that Star did (more than once).  
The whimsical young girl sure had talent for wacky and unusual stuff like this, but that's not how princesses were supposed to act.  
The Queen, the woman who controlled the whole Kingdom, for some reasons had no real authority on her own daughter.

"Time to sleep, Star. The entire Kingdom is asleep, with the exception of its princess…"  
"… and its Queen!" – Star replied, with a grin, trying to make her parent smile.  
Not surprisingly, she failed.

The royal mother patiently guided Star to the bed.  
The child slipped under the blankets, protesting a bit. She angrily hugged again her stuffed lizard, making a forced sulky expression.

"Stop making faces. Now go to sleep!"  
"I told you, mom. I'm not tired!"  
"Yes you are, and you better start acting more like a princess, young lady…"

The Queen was a great politician but for some reason she always had troubles with Star's whimsical nature. Not that the child was doing something incredibly terrible right now: the woman was simply very tired.  
She didn't also realize that she was yelling a bit too much.

"Now go to sleep, or else…"

"Or else… what? What is going on here?!" – a man's voice interrupted.

Star's face lighted up as she saw her father walking towards her bed.

"Do you realize how late it is? I could hear every word you said from the other tower!"

"Finally. Glad you're here." – the Queen said, sighing in relief.

The King looked at his wife and then at his daughter, mildly confused.

"Could someone tell me what is going on here?" – he asked. He wasn't angry, just tired.

The young princess crossed her arms, still annoyed by this whole "royal-code" that she had to follow.

"I don't want to sleep. I'm not even tired!"

The King simply rolled his eyes and sat on the bed, facing the princess, but also smiled. He had some kind of soft spot for his daughter. One could say that he even sometimes encouraged her happy-go-lucky behavior.

"Yes you are, my starlight…"  
"Nope!"

Star's father was much more patient than his wife. And he also knew exactly what was going on. And what his daughter really wanted right now. After some moments of silence, he talked again.

"How about a bedtime story?" – the King asked, with a smile.

Star tried to not look too interested.

"A story about adventure, magic, evil forces and a young rebellious princess?" – he said, smiling even more while finishing the sentence.

"The Legend of Princess Astria?!" – the princess asked, excited, but she already knew the answer to that question. The King chuckled a bit.

The Queen rolled her eyes too, but annoyed instead. She too sat on the bed, next to her husband. The King noticed the wife's irritated mood.

"You can go if you're not interested, my dear"

The Queen sensed the slightly sarcastic tone of that sentence.

"No, I'll stay here." – she replied, trying to look as distant as possible.

The King bent to her daughter. "Truth is, your mother loves this fairy tale as much as you do…" – he whispered, making sure his wife heard that.

Star quickly slipped her hands under the pillow and grabbed a small book. The father chuckled a bit as he knew that her daughter loved that story so much that he even wanted to keep the book close; but the King didn't need it anyway: he told her this fairy tale so many times that he completely memorized it by now.

"You can keep it, don't worry…" – he said, as Star "hid" it again under her pillow.

Star's eyes gleamed in joy as her father once again started to narrate her favorite fairytale.

_Once upon a time, there was a beautiful cosmic entity wandering through the Universe, a princess with no name nor kingdom, that everyone simply called "Princess Astria". She was a magical girl with the ability of jumping through dimensions at will, spreading love, joy and happiness wherever she went, befriending every living being she met._  
One day, while visiting a fancy, royal dimension [very similar to our Kingdom, my darling] _, she met a boy around her age, Prince Deimor and…_  
  
"No!" – the Queen interrupted. "It's Prince Luxor. Lord Deimor is Luxor's brother…".  
"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure it was Prince Deimor and Lord Luxor…" – the King replied.

"You were listening then…" – he then added, with a smirk. The Queen simply gave him an annoyed look, but she did like that story too, so she pretended to be irritated by all of this storytelling.

"Mother is right: it's Prince Luxor…" – Star quickly checked her book before slipping it back under the pillow, waiting to hear the rest of the story.

"Anyway…" – the King continued.

_She met a boy around her age, Prince Luxor and the two quickly fell in love. They were so different, yet they completed each other. But she couldn't stay with him forever._

_"There are still so many dimensions to see, so many worlds to help…"_

_"I'll come with you, my love!"_

_Astria really wanted to take Luxor with her, living wonderful adventures together, but she couldn't. Her unique powers only worked on one person: herself. She felt too privileged. "Everyone should be able to see the Universe!". Astria realized that there was a way to let other people through dimensions like her and with her._

_"_ _Do you really love me, my Prince?"_

_"_ _More than anything!"_

_"Then let your love guide you through the Universe…"_

_And thus she created one of the most powerful magical artifacts that we still use today: Dimensional Scissors._

_"As long as you love me, my Prince, those scissors will let you travel through dimensions at will, so you will be always able to find me, no matter where I am."_

_And he did. Prince Luxor was now able to visit her wherever she was. They lived incredible adventures side by side. Their love was so deep and strong that ignored any border that once kept the dimensions separated: the Scissors were actually "powered" by Luxor's love for Astria._

_But if Luxor saw the Scissors as a way to reach happiness and spread love, somebody else would use them to reach power and spread war. Luxor's brother, the evil Lord Deimor, wanted to use the magical artifact to conquer other dimensions. Using the Scissors, he could finally open the gates of the legendary Forbidden Dimension, a place where the mighty destructive force of The Darkness was imprisoned, taking over the entire Universe._

Tapestry-like images of the fairytale started to flash in the room as Star's mother used her magic wand as some sort of projector. The image showed a demon-looking armor-like humanoid, grinning maniacally and surrounded by evil spirits of some sort.

_Astria and Luxor fearlessly fought and defeated Lord Deimor and his legions, but The Darkness was ultimately freed. Was it too late?_

_The magical princess couldn't let The Darkness invade the Universe she swore to protect and love. Just as the dark entities were emerging from the portal, she bravely stepped right into that dark cloud of pure evil and started to shine, as bright as a star. The Darkness was completely overwhelmed by the sheer force of Astria's light and quickly retired in its own cage just as the portal closed behind it._

_The Universe was safe and as Lord Deimor was imprisoned for his crimes, Astria and Luxor continued to travel through dimensions, living great adventures and loving each other for the rest of their long lives._

"See, my darling. This is why we can use the Dimensional Scissors. Prince Luxor's love for Astria is what keeps the scissors 'alive' and…"

"It's just a legend…" – the Queen interrupted.  
"No… it's not!" – the King quickly replied.

"Legend or not, Princess Astria was amazing! Take that, you dark… Darkness!" – the young princess shouted, goofily waving her arms pretending to fight some invisible enemies.  
"And that happy ending… sometimes it sounds too happy to be true… awwww…" – she was completely lost in her imagination as she finally yawned, tired. "I can't wait to be 14 and have my own royal magic wand… So I'll be a magical princess just like Astria!"

The King chuckled a bit and kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Trust me, my darling. You are already magical…"

As Star was already falling asleep, the King got up and left the room.  
The Queen, who was trying to be all-serious, finally sincerely smiled too and kissed her daughter in the forehead just like her husband did seconds earlier.

"Your father is right, my little Star. You are magical… one day, you will shine brighter than the brightest of the stars…" – she whispered.

**End of Chapter 1**


	2. Typical Tuesday Morning Routine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star and Marco are busy with their usual (and weekly) backyard brawl against Ludo and his army.  
> And they're also late for school.
> 
> The princess, however, has some big news to tell...

**Chapter 2 - Typical Tuesday Morning Routine**

"Get her, you morons!"

An high-pitched voice echoed across the backyard, followed by a cacophonic series of enraged screams let out by a rather angry group of animal-like warriors.

17-years old Star Butterfly already stroke her usual fighting pose, showing off a smirk to tease her silly-looking enemies. Easily avoiding a couple of disorganized attacks, she grasped her magic wand, which immediately started to glow in a rainbow-ish light.

"Rainbow-fist punch!" – she yelled, as her wand emitted a multicolored giant fist, quickly disposing of a giraffe-like minion.

"Gah! The rainbow punch-thing? Again?! Really?! You morons will never learn!"

Upon hearing that high-pitched voice again, Star turned around, without losing her smirk, directly speaking to the source of those complaints.

"Don't be so hard on them, Ludo. It's only the two-hundredth time that they fight me…"

The rather short and silly-looking villain simply replied with an angered grunt, annoyed by Star's mocking tone, and raised his comically taller staff, like he was trying to look more intimidating, unsuccessfully. The most annoying thing was, however, that she was right: Ludo's henchmen were absurdly NOT good at this for some reason.

Star nonchalantly continued to fire shiny beams out of her wand, easily hitting her enemies one by one. "Typical Tuesday morning routine" she thought, as she also noticed the huge crocodile monster looming behind her, trying to pull off a sneak attack. The princess didn't even fully turn around as she knew that the crocodile-thing was already being taken care of one karate chop at time, but not by her or her magical powers.

Star heard the monster behind her clumsily fall, defeated, as a boy literally landed next to her, striking a karate-like fighting pose.

"Are these guys getting weaker or what?" – he asked, rather sarcastically.  
"I guess we just make a really good team!" – the princess proudly responded.

The two smiled at each other. "Yeah", the boy said. "And we protect each other I guess…" he then added, giving a quick look to the defeated crocodile-thing.

Just like Star, Marco Diaz was no pushover in battles. He had no magic powers, but he knew different fighting styles, mostly various forms of martial arts and Karate. Incredibly skilled and much braver than he looks, his high-school nickname "Safe Kid" (which he despises) definitely sounds ridiculous considering that this frenetic battle was a normal Tuesday morning routine.

And there was no match. Ludo's henchmen fell one by one like they weren't even trying. The two teenagers' movements and attacks were extremely well-coordinated, watching each other's backs even in chaotic battles. They were so used to it, that they even chatted about random stuff while jumping and fighting around, enraging their enemies even more.

"You know, Marco, today may be the day!" - the princess said, suddenly more excited than usual, while mindlessly dodging a huge antler-man who was trying to smash her with a giant hammer.  
"Uh… what? What are you talking about?" – he asked, rather calmly, not sounding at all like someone who just punched an ugly two-headed monster in both faces.

Star jumped around, dodged a couple of more uncoordinated attacks and continued to talk: "This was going to be a surprise, but I just can't wait!".

The princess jumped again, much higher with the aid of some flashy magic of her magic wand, landing closer to her battle-mate.

"Today, after school, I'll meet my parents back in Mewni! I got a letter yesterday: they said that maybe… just maybe…" – Star's excitement seemed to grow as her wand released a couple of equally excited little creeps… who immediately brutally attacked another henchmen.  
"Maybe what?" – Marco asked, impatiently but laughing, amused by his friend's unique way of displaying emotions.

Star gasped in excitement and her eyes went wider. She grasped her friend's arms and pulled him closer to her; or, to be more precise, pulled him away from a fireball that just barely missed him. The two didn't seem to notice as Star finally took a big breath and let out the big news:

"I'm ready to become a Queen, Marco!" – she yelled and small fireworks exploded around her magic wand, which started glowing in its well-known rainbow-ish colors again.  
Marco just stood there, looking at his friend, completely ignoring the backyard brawl for a moment. "That's…" he too took a big breath, and finally smiled widely and sincerely embraced the great news. "That's awesome, Star! Oh… I mean… your majesty!" – he said, bowing, rather mockingly, making Star laugh a bit.

One last animal-monster rushed between the two teenagers, a frog-ish henchmen with a deep voice, Buff Frog, ready to punch the princess in the face: "Congratulations, Princess!" – he said first, with a sincere smile. Star smiled back, almost moved. "Awww… thanks, Buff Frog!" – she replied, right before blasting him with a beam of light. The magical force launched the frogman on the other side of the backyard, right next to Ludo, his unimpressed boss.

Buff Frog quickly stood up, teary eyes, joining his big amphibians hands, "I'm so happy for the princess, master. She worked so hard for it and now she'll finally become the beautiful queen that she deserves to be…". Ludo simply looked at his henchmen, speechless.  
And then reached his boiling point.

"What the  _flurb_  are you even talking about, you useless piece of  _blaark_!" – he comically yelled in his usual high-pitched voice, repeatedly and goofily beating his too emotional henchmen with his staff, but barely hurting him. "Whose side you're on you ugly… GAH! Fine! I'll do it myself!"

Ludo once again raised his staff. The scepter was adorned with an eye-like symbol with bat-like wings attached to it. Said symbol started to glow rather sinisterly as the "wings" adjusted their position, making the staff look like some kind of magic shotgun.

"Time to test my new toy…" – he said, before yelling again like he always does. "Princess Butterfly, prepare to meet your…" – but a woman's voice interrupted him.

Leaning out of a window of the house, an angry-looking Mrs. Diaz, Marco's mother, interrupted the whole fight at its climax. "How many times I have told you, kids! No fighting in my backyard!".

Star and Marco simply looked back at her, with the boy visibly embarrassed. "Mooom! We're trying to fight the forces of evil here!". But 'mom' was tired of cleaning up their after-battle messes every time; "I don't care who you are fighting, young man! You stop right now! And you're both late for school! Don't make me come down there…" – she said, in her typical mom-menacing voice, before violently shutting the window. An awkward silence ensued after that.

"M-maybe we should just finish this…"  
"You're right, Marco. It is getting a bit too late…" – Star replied, pointing her wand at Ludo.

The comically short villain also pointed his new weapon at his royal enemy, resuming his intimidating sentence.

"Princess Butterfly, prepare to meet your doom!"

Ludo's staff started to glow more and more, emitting a sinister charging sound. Star and Marco got closer to each other, side by side, ready to dodge the incoming blast. "That's new…" they thought. During all of this, their small enemy was laughing maniacally.

But the new weapon turned out to be quite anticlimactic as instead of a blast of dark of magic it simply emitted a raspberry sound and a puff of smoke. Ludo stopped laughing and went unimpressed rather quickly. "Of course…" – he said in a deadpan tone.  
Another awkward silence.

"Alright, my turn"

The princess raised her colorful magic wand, shouting one of her magical spells in a eerie cheerful tone. "Explosio. Bombastic. Kabloomish!".

That's it. It was over.  
Ludo and his henchmen were all engulfed in a bright light of cheerful pain.  
Once again, in a typical Tuesday morning routine, they were humiliated by the interdimensional teen-team from Earth. As the flashy explosion disappeared, everything would have been silent if it wasn't for the henchmen groaning in pain, probably wondering why they even keep trying since it always ends like this.

The silence was broken by the well-known high-pitched voice.

"Fine, princess! You think you're all magical and special and magical!" – Ludo said, mockingly waving his tiny arms like a ballerina, in a too-girly(and embarrassing) attempt of imitating his royal enemy perhaps.

"Just leave, Ludo…"  
"See you next Tuesday,  _amigo_ …"

Ludo was enraged by the teen's smug smiles and how they smiled proudly at each other.  
The comically-sized villain realized it was, in fact, time to leave Earth for a while. Still trying to look as unimpressed as possible, he pulled out a pair of Dimensional Scissor, the only way of traveling through dimensions. Patiently, but rather quickly, he shredded a small portion of reality in front of him, opening a portal to his own 'evil' dimension.

"Alright… alright. Come on, back in the portal… back in the portal…"

The small animal-army painfully entered in the portal in single file, one by one, silently, only emitting occasional grunts or muttering some kind of insults in their own language.

Before going back in his dimension, Ludo angrily threw his staff in the portal and, firmly holding his scissors, started doing his usual and villainous clichéd monologue.

"Only dumb luck, princess. You may have won this round, Star Butterfly. Next time… bwhaha… next time…" – he started to yell, certain that he was sounding incredibly threatening and scary, despite their young enemies' unimpressed reactions (Star mockingly yawned and Marco was checking messages on his smartphone). "… next time, you won't be so lucky! One day, Star, one day, your precious magic wand shall be mine and the Universe will bow to…".

"Sorry Ludo, we're late for school. Bye!" – with a rapid movement, Star fired a small rainbow-fist from her magic wand, punching Ludo right in the portal. The attack caught the villain by surprise, who lost his scissors in the process. "No! NO! Wait! My sciss-!" but the portal closed behind him before he could finish the sentence.

Star and Marco sighed in relief. "Sheesh. I thought he was never going to leave…" – the boy said. "Wait!" he then added, pointing at the shiny artifact glowing in the grass, merely where the portal was seconds before.

The boy crouched and picked it up and he immediately realized what he was holding in his hands. "Ludo's Dimensional Scissors!". "Nice!" – Star added.

Marco inspected the sharp artifacts more closely like they were hiding some kind of secrets. "I guess we're not going to see him next Tuesday then… or the Tuesday after that…".  
"Star, should we destroy them? You know… they might be dangerous in wrong hands…".

Star simply smiled at him. "But they're in  _your_  hands now, Marco. I guess it's time for you to have your own pair of Dimensional Scissors, don't you think…?". They both chuckled. "Also, we  _never_  destroy Dimensional Scissors. They're magical and powered by true love… it would be a shame to even damage something this beautiful…".

As the princess' wand emitted some cute flying little hearts, Marco remembered.  
Star told him the story of Astria, Luxor and their never-ending love for each other like a dozen of times. 'The legendary and ultimate love', so deep and sincere, that it even made traveling through dimensions possible.  
Marco was actually a bit more cynical about the 'true love'-thingy, but he didn't want to ruin Star's favorite fairytale. It was clearly a legend, but Star (and many other people on Mewni) firmly believed that it was true.

"We should go now. It's getting a bit too late and, to be honest, your mom scares me sometimes…". - Marco laughed, but she was right.

"OK. OK. Don't wait for me. I'll hide those scissors in my room first. See you at school…"  
"You sure you don't need a lift…?"  
"Don't worry, it's not  _that_  late…"

Marco rushed in the house, but he stopped before going inside and turned to Star.

"Oh and, once again, congratulations, princess Butterfly…" – and he bowed again.  
"Stop it…" – Star chuckled nervously. He wasn't used to see Marco acting all "formal" around her for 'royal reasons'.

As Marco went inside, the blonde-haired princess pointed her wand to the ground where she was standing on. "Catapultardy-Explobaloon!" – and she took off like a rocket, leaving a rainbow trail behind her. She landed in high school merely seconds later, in front of other students who were by far used to all of this magical stuff going on in Echo Creek and just didn't care about the magical princess that fell from the sky.

In their defense, high school can be really weird even without interdimensional exchange students like Star walking around.  
And Star herself, while rushing into class, realized that this may be her last day of high school.

**End of Chapter 2**


	3. "Wish Me Luck"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star and Marco head back home from school and talk about the princess' (supposedly) imminent coronation.

**Chapter 3 - "Wish Me Luck"**

High school didn't feel very different than usual, not even on that day.  
Star followed her lessons like she always did, but she didn't pay too much attention to her teachers this time as her mind was elsewhere. On Mewni, actually.  
She was very excited at the idea of becoming Queen or, at least, of being considered  _suitable_  for such an important role.

The wayward princess nearly completely mastered the chaotic powers of the magic wand, the reason she was sent to our dimension in the first place. It felt like yesterday, even though it was almost four years ago; upon noticing that she couldn't handle the powerful wand she inherited from her mother, her royal parents immediately sent her to what they considered a safer place (for Mewni): Earth. Star posed as an exchange student… from another dimension (not that anyone cared) and she was soon introduced to her foster family, the Diaz, a wacky human half-latino family she instantly loved and cared for. Deep in her thoughts, Star also remembered how Marco, ironically enough, didn't even like her at first: she was too whimsical for his "safe-kid" attitude; actually, summoning laser-shooting puppies and creating a black hole in his bedroom wasn't a good start for a friendship.

But they became friends anyway.  
Once you fight an army of evil forces side by side you can't possibly avoid befriending your battle-mate. But it was much more than that.  
What Star and Marco built over the last four years was incredible and they were both aware of it. They made a perfect team, balancing each other's quirks and opposite personalities. And, as the boy said earlier, they also  _protect each other_.  
Star did make other friends on Earth, but her bond with Marco was unique.

Hours passed rather quickly. Star followed her classes like she normally did for years, taking notes, chatting about random stuff with random classmates, surviving the cafeteria's lunch meal (the Echo Creek Academy was particularly infamous for its horrible food) and all the usual stuff that students do in high school. In a blink of an eye, it was time to go home already, "Go home for real, maybe…" Star thought, thinking of Mewni.

Marco was waiting for his royal friend just outside the school's main entrance, so the two could walk back home together and report to each other what they saw/learn/did in school or what they were planning to do later.

But today it was different.

The boy noticed that his friend's mood changed in the last couple of hours: he could read her face like an open book. He knew that Star was excited about her royal role in her kingdom, but for some reason she also looked doubtful or even scared about something.

"So… today is the big day then! Want to talk about it? You seem kinda worried…" – the boy asked, trying to sound as relaxed as possible. He didn't want to make the princess more uncomfortable or anything.

Star simply responded with her well-known innocent smile.

"Aww. I'm fine, Marco, don't worry… I'm just really nervous…".  
"Really? Why? That's like… your dream coming true! Living in a fancy palace, doing royal stuff for your kingdom... you know, magical-queen-from-another-dimension things…".

While walking, Star mindlessly made some flowers pop out from the sidewalk, a funny quirky habit she always had on Earth and perhaps the only truly harmless spell her wand was capable of.

"I mean, what if I mess up? Is there going to be some kind of final test? I know I'm ready for it… but… am I good enough to be queen? And…" – she was interrupted by Marco, who seemed quite sure that she had nothing to be worried about.  
" _Posa_ , no idea of how this royal stuff works. But I saw you fighting a flying shark once. With your bare hands." – Star chuckled, remembering that crazy ocean-themed Dimension they visited years ago.  
"Mewni can be weird, but we don't have flying sharks there…" – she replied.  
The boy shook his head, without losing his reassuring smile. "That's not what I meant…" – Star looked puzzled at him. "You're brave. You're like the bravest person I've ever known.  _That's_  what I meant. And that's more than  _good enough_  if you ask me.".

Star's reaction to Marco's kind words was nearly immediate as small flying heart-shaped creatures came out from her wand. "Awwww… Marco, you're so sweet…" – the boy chuckled nervously and rubbed his neck. "OK. Don't get too sentimental now,  _Posa_ …" – he quickly replied, since Star's displays of affection tended to a be a bit too  _huggy_  sometimes. "Remember, I'm a misunderstood bad boy and  _bad boys_ don't like fluff, OK?" – he added, in a slight self-mockery tone. Star simply smiled at him, amused by his quirks and chuckled a bit more. "Okay,  _wild man_ …" – she said, with a smirk.

In truth, Marco was not a "bad boy" at all. He simply didn't like the nickname "Safe Kid" and so he usually tried to act tough, unsuccessfully.  
Not that anyone cared anyway.  
But he still wanted to be considered a "bad boy", despite being probably one of the nicest kid in school. He also sometimes calls Star " _Posa_ ", which is the diminutive of  _mariposa_ , the Spanish word for  _butterfly_ ; the princess almost went crazy with joy when Marco explained the meaning of that little nickname to her and almost strangled him with hugs.  
Truly a dangerous bad boy, indeed…

After a couple of more minutes of walking, they were now a few feet away from their (well,  _the Diaz's_  actually) house: it was an ordinary suburban building with a red-brick roof and a well-kept garden in front and behind it. The most interesting (and unusual) sight of the neighborhood, however, was the Mewni-styled domed tower that seemed to sprout from the right side of the house. That "out-of-nowhere" tower was actually a huge bedroom and was in fact created, not surprisingly, by Star during her first day on Earth.

As the two teens went inside and slipped their backpacks off their shoulders, five tail-wagging puppies soon greeted them, joyfully barking and hopping around. Marco was always the first one to pet them (ignoring his self-proclaimed "bad boy" status) every time they came back home, usually speaking in an embarrassing high-pitched tone of voice. "Hey there little buddies… aww… I missed you too!". Star would instead hold and hug them one by one, emitting fluffy sounds like she was trying to talk in some kind of "puppy language".

"Look, they're finally learning to control it!" – Marco noted.  
"I wouldn't be so sure…" – she responded, noticing how the puppies' eyes started to glow.

Laser-shooting puppies, another adorable mistake of nature created by the magic wand. The tiny dogs continued to bark happily as they fired quick and (mostly) harmless laser beams from their eyes. Star and Marco simply rolled their eyes, amused by those little hairy monsters.

"I better go now. My mother hates latecomers…"

Star nonchalantly bopped her head with the wand and her casual, colorful outfit immediately bloomed into a fancier (and definitely more royal looking) dress.

"Whoa" – Marco muttered, while casually holding one of the puppies as it barked in approval.  
"I'll take that as a compliment… from  _both_  of you…" – the princess replied, with a smirk, gently bopping her wand on Marco's and the puppy's nose.

"Say 'hi' to your parents from me. I'll be back in a couple of hours."  
"W-wait, Star! Are you really going to miss the taco-night?"  
"Not for all the gold of Mewni…"

The princess then rushed upstairs, but suddenly stopped and turned around.

"Marco, before I go…"

The boy gazed upon her quietly. She looked so mature and regal with that dress on.  
She looked so  _beautiful_.

"Y-yeah?" – he stuttered.  
"Wish me luck…"

Marco blinked a couple of times, like he was expecting her to say something else.

"O-of course. Good luck, princess!" – he said, as the tiny dog he was holding barked again.

Star chuckled nervously, still amused by Marco's sudden "formal" way of talking around her, and then rushed upstairs, for real this time, leaving the boy alone with the silly-looking puppies, still hopping around. The one laser-shooting doggie that Marco was still holding in his arms whined a bit and then barked loudly, like annoyed by something.

"Sh-Shut up…" – the boy muttered, as the puppy gave him a surprisingly "human" scolding look.

The dog knew...

**End of Chapter 3**


	4. Three Days Left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Queen Nova Butterfly is not impressed by Star's still too-whimsical behavior and is afraid that her daughter may even be tarnishing their family name. Luckily (for the Queen), there's a very rare astronomical/interdimensional alignment approaching, a beautiful event that will make Star's Coronation Day memorable.

**Chapter 4 - Three Days Left**

Star Butterfly, the young princess from the magical kingdom Mewni, was well known for her happy-go-lucky personality. She was whimsical, untamable and sometimes acted a bit too goofy.

But she wasn't stupid: she  _chose_  to be like this. Star was perfectly capable of being regal, but she also really enjoyed visiting other dimensions, befriending different people from different sides of the Universe, somehow leaving a mark wherever she went.

But her parents –actually, her mother- were not fond of her life-style.

The moment she arrived at the Royal Palace, Star knew what was coming, especially considering  _why_  she was called back on Mewni this time. She was just standing there, in silence, as her mother, walking back and forth in front of her and holding an interestingly long scroll (the "scroll of shame", as she nicknamed it), patiently listed, rather nervously, all the "preposterous things" her daughter did in one dimension or another.

"And there was one time, in the Aqua Dimension, where you punched an extremely-rare species of flying shark in the face! I… I don't even know what to say about this!"

The princess cracked a nervous smile as her Mother continued with the shaming.

"Laser puppies, inner tentacle demons, giant moth-monsters…" – the Mother's patience seemed to decrease as she continued to read the scroll. "We sent you on Earth so you could learn to control the wand… to control yourself! Not…  _this_!" – she continued, shaking the embarrassingly long piece of paper.

Star simply stood there, avoiding eye contact, mindlessly inspecting the beautiful tapestries that adorned the vast room around her.

"This one… this one here…" – the Mother was now pointing to a particular entry on that overly long list of mishaps. "Apparently, with your dimensional scissors, while visiting the Floria Kingdom, you opened a portal to a black hole… a  _black hole_ , Star…"

The princess now looked directly at her Mother, like she was being framed for something she didn't really do.

"Nobody got hurt! "

"You completely destroyed the royal palace of Floria, Star! We're lucky we're not at war with the Floridians!" – she muttered.

"Opening a black hole was the only way to get rid of those evil life-eating plants that were devouring their entire dimension! King Tulip was not mad! He thanked me and… " – Star explained (or tried to).

"That's not the point, Star…"

Star's Mother, Queen of Mewni, had always been one to follow old rules and ancient traditions. Knowing that her daughter was the complete opposite of that is what made her incessantly nervous about everything, if not mad. She rolled the scroll back up, unimpressed by the princess' explanation; she took a big breath and calmed down.

"Follow me…"

The young princess reluctantly obeyed as she followed the Queen around that enormous room. It was so full of statues, tapestries and other ornaments that it felt like visiting one of those beautiful museums from Earth. The walls were a constellation of paintings, most of them depicting important royals figures of Mewni's long history.

"You see…" – she said, driving her daughter's attention to the majestic room around them. "For centuries, our family has been admired and respected. The Butterfly Dynasty has always stood out for its intelligence, culture, class, elegance… not flaming rainbows…"

Star remained in silence, holding her wand tight.

"In all of these years, your irresponsible actions tarnished our family's name. Our Dynasty slowly became the laughing stock of the known Universe…"

For the first time, the princess felt ashamed by her whimsical behavior. She didn't know that people from other dimensions would make fun of her family because of her.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I had no idea…" – she responded.

"Of course you didn't… and that's the problem…"

The Queen stopped in front of a particular large tapestry and Star did the same.

"But fear not, my irresponsible daughter. Your imminent coronation will restore our family's name and prestige all around the Universe… look!" – the Queen said, inviting her daughter to admire that beautiful piece of tapestry in front of them. " _The Dimensional Alignment_!"

The ornamental fabric they were both looking at was apparently an artist's rendition of this particular astronomical event, depicted as a vertical series of planet-like circles and, at the bottom of the scene, a relatively small silhouette of domed buildings, probably representing Mewni or any generic kingdom. Despite the very simplistic art-style, Star felt overwhelmed.

"Having a coronation ceremony during such a stunning event would bring great honor to the lucky Princess and her family…"

Star was confused by the Queen's sudden interest in this astronomical event.

"It would be… but Mother, the Alignment is also a  _rare_ event. Like… _very_ rare. It didn't happen since… when? Centuries? Thousands of years?"

"Yes. And it's just too difficult to predict. Too many factors involved…" – the Mother responded, faking a resigned tone of voice.

After a moment of puzzled silence, the princess let out a soft gasp as she realized what was happening and went cautiously excited rather quickly.

"It's going to happen soon, isn't it?" – she asked, almost whispering.

Her royal parent simply responded with a smirk, to which Star replied with a high-pitched noise and fireworks-like things coming out from her wand. She immediately hugged her Mother, who  _kinda_  returned her act of affection (she was nowhere as "huggy" as her daughter). The princess eventually calmed down and took a big breath.

"So… how soon? Weeks? Months?" – she asked.

"Three days, actually…" – the Queen replied, nonchalantly.

"Awesome!"

Realizing what just happened, after a couple of seconds of excitement, Star's smile suddenly turned into a panicked face.

"Three days?!" – she screamed, hands on her cheeks.

The Queen, however, was disturbingly calm as usual.

"Now don't panic, Star. As I said, the Alignment is very unpredictable. Our astronomers did some tremendous calculations and gave me the exact date only a couple of days ago…"

Star was a mixture of emotions. She was excited at the idea of becoming Queen… but in  _three_ days? During the rarest of all dimensional events?

"Mother… I'm more than honored by all of this but… don't you think we're going a bit too fast…?" – she asked, trying to sound calmer than she truly was.

"Don't be ridiculous…"

"But… But what if I'm not ready? What if…" – but she was interrupted.

"Star, despite your questionable life-style, you  _are_  ready!" – she snapped, annoyed. "You  _do_  want to be Queen, right…?" – she asked, narrowing her eyes.

The princess nodded quietly.

"Good!" – she said, unimpressed. "Preparations for your coronation have already begun. In three days, as the Dimensional Alignment lights up the entire sky, people from all Mewni will witness the rise of their new Queen: Star Butterfly!" – she continued, moved by her own words. She took out a tissue and pressed it to her eyes, probably being a bit too dramatic.

But the Queen, despite her usually cold personality, was indeed very proud of her daughter. But most importantly, Star's coronation would hopefully put an end to her way too whimsical and way-ward life style, keeping her on Mewni, finally embracing her royal duties.

"At last! Your time to shine has come, my daughter. There will be a ball in your honor and… " – the Mother stopped, like she just remembered something important. "Speaking of which… I almost forgot… you've been invited to…"

A loud sound of a door opening echoed in the room, interrupting her mid-sentence.

"Am I too late? Where is my beautiful princess?"

Star immediately recognized her Father, and ran into his arms, almost making him lose balance, as he was already overburdened with various animal pelts: the King was coming back from one of his hunting trips –and a very profitable one apparently.

Unlike the Queen, Star's Father never really cared about old traditions or his reputation around the Universe. While he did not really encourage her "crazy" personality, the King always had a huge soft spot for his daughter and as long as Star was happy (and stayed out of trouble), he was happy too.

"So, another successful hunting trip, I presume…" – the Mother said, rather unimpressed.

The King soon felt her wife's annoyed gaze upon him and coughed nervously.

"Yes, my Queen. As you can see…" – he said, as he proudly showed the skins of the slayed monsters on his back. "Even a human-sized Wyvern… crazy, uh?"

As the happy-go-lucky person she was, Star was not really a fan of hunting.  
Truth is, neither the King was.

All of those skins and pelts he brought over the years were actually fake, probably some kind of costumes.

Star knew. His wife knew. The  _whole_  kingdom was aware that he was pretending to be a great hunter like his ancestors (and other royal figures from other kingdoms). But they all just went on with it, unbeknown to him. After all, the King was a genuinely good person and nobody really wanted to hurt his feelings.

"I ditched my hunting mates as soon as I could. I'm so happy to see you, my sweetheart… you're growing up so fast…" – he said, moved by her daughter's presence.  
"Father…" – Star chuckled as she hugged him again. "It's only been a few weeks since my last visit…"

"I know. But this palace seems so empty without my princess…"

Still unimpressed, the Queen coughed to get her daughter's attention. The King smiled at his wife, who completely ignored him in response.

"So, as I was going to say…" – the Mother took out an envelope and handed it to Star. "You've been officially invited by King Tulip to the Grand Ball of the Floria Kingdom. It's Prince Cloro's birthday tomorrow and they both would really appreciate your presence. You should go, considering that you destroyed their palace…"

The princess inspected the invitation, marked with the Florian royal seal, written in a perfect and rather fancy-looking handwriting.

"You might not be a Queen yet, but consider this your first real assignment as Mewni's future sovereign. On Floria, you're not just Star Butterfly, but the personification of our Kingdom…"

"But no pressure…" – the princess added, sarcastically.

Star however soon realized how important this invitation was and happily accepted it –not that she had any choice anyway, not while her Mother was around. She actually really enjoys regal events like these, even though they tend to be a bit too boring for her sometimes.

"Be sure to wear your best dress tomorrow. Be calm, polite, be a real princess for once. And… who knows… maybe Prince Cloro might even dance with you…" – the Queen said, with a romantic smirk.

"Actually… this invitation says I can bring one person with me… I'll just ask Marco to join me…" – Star quickly responded.

"Whatever... bring the Earthling with you. As long as you don't… wait, what was it…" – the Mother once again took out the "scroll of shame" and started looking for something on it. "As long as you don't summon a herd of aggressive unicorns, you'll be fine…"

Star laughed, remembering that crazy incident. "Don't worry, mom! That trick only works here on Mewni. If I whistle loud enough, all the wild unicorns I tamed will rush here. It's pretty cool actually: want to see?"

As Star took a big breath, two loud "NO!" echoed in the room. She noticed her parents' panicked faces and chuckled.

"Just… be yourself… but not too much…" – the Mother said, with a nervous smile.

The princess bowed sarcastically in response, much to her Mother's annoyance (and the King's amusement). The Queen then signaled to one of their servants to come in.

"Manfred, please. Would you please escort our daughter back to the Earth Dimension?"

"Aw… don't worry! I'll just use my own scissors…"

As Star literally started to cut a portion of reality in front of her, she noticed her Mother's nervous expression. "Don't worry, no black holes this time!".

She then hugged her parents one last time before rushing into the portal she opened.

"We love you, sweetheart! Have fun on Floria!"

And as his daughter disappeared in a flash of light, the King sighed, already missing his little princess. He then patiently handed the pelts of the slayed monsters to Manfred, who would then put them on display in a more appropriate trophy room.

The Queen, impassive as usual, gave a rather suspicious look to her husband. As Manfred left the room and the two were finally alone, she started to talk.

"I know you're lying, River…" – her words felt like a thunder in the empty room.

The King knew this day was coming eventually, but he simply chuckled and tried to walk away, avoiding eye contact. But the Queen was stubborn enough to insist.

"And I'm not talking about your fake trophy room…"

"What are you talking about then, Nova?" – he replied, still avoiding eye contact but with an equally serious tone of voice.

"I'm talking about this!" – she snapped as she pointed the tapestry depicting the Dimensional Alignment. "I know what are you really doing, River…".

The woman calmed down and walked towards her husband.

"Since we've known about the Alignment, you've been…  _hunting_  more often than usual… almost every day…" – she sighed, worried, and put one hand on his shoulder. "What are you  _really_  hunting for, River…?".

He remained silent and quickly glanced at the tapestry looming over them.

"It's just a legend, dear…" – her voiced softened.

"I know. But  _The Shadows_ are not…"

The King continued admiring the ornamental fabric in front of him with a rather worried look on his face.

"That society… that group of criminals… have been hiding, waiting for the Dimensional Alignment for centuries…"

" _The_   _Forbidden Dimension_  is a legend, River. It's no more than a fairytale!" – she said, cautiously articulating her words.

"Yes, it is. But The Shadows believe it's real. They would do anything to  _make it_  real. And that makes them dangerous… unpredictable… they must be plotting something big…" – his voice cracked in a mixture of anger and fear. "And I don't want my only daughter to be exposed to such a danger! Not on her coronation day! Not on any day…" – his determined voice echoed across the vast empty room. The King then noticed his wife's worried look on him. "Sorry… I… I'm just really tired... I need to sleep…" – he then added.

The Queen tried to mutter some encouraging words as her husband left the room, but she just remained silent. She instead gave to that beautiful tapestry one final look.  
And, thinking of her husband's words, she immediately felt a shiver running down her spine.

**End of Chapter 4**


	5. The Prince of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Self-proclaimed "prince of Darkness" Zeuro and his fellow Shadows bring back to life an ancient evil, Lord Deimor, who is bent on finishing what he started thousands of years ago...

**Chapter 5 - The Prince of Darkness**

Secret societies are considered  _secret_  for a reason: they're no more than a rumor, a legend and don't even seem to exist. Despite that, all sorts of creepy tales are told about them, often involving weird rituals and sacrifices.

 _The Shadow Society_  is no different.

It is said to have been around for centuries, with hundreds of adepts joining them.

No one knows what they do exactly. No one ever found them.  
Because no one ever truly bothered of looking for them in the first place.  
They're just a legend, after all.

But they're not.

Hidden somewhere, deep in an underground temple of some sort, hooded figures were gathering around a huge empty horned armor, which looked more like a lifeless puppet. A continuous ominous chanting echoed in that poorly lit cavern-like room as one of the figures cautiously walked towards the armor, clearly the object of the society's devotion.

He raised his arms, invoking silence.

"My brothers and sisters…" – he shouted, theatrically pulling his hood off, revealing his rather young appearance. "We waited for so long… For centuries we've been hated, hunted… feared… but things will soon change…". The young man carefully inspected the crowd around him with his bright green eyes, like he was expecting a traitor to show up. He then pointed at the ceiling, where a complex but barely visible and deteriorated ancient mosaic was located: another depiction of the upcoming Alignment, definitely more eerie-looking than the tapestry on Mewni.

"Darkness is coming!" – he announced, disturbingly excited.

The hooded crowd cheered, invoking the young man's name: "Zeuro, Prince of Darkness! Zeuro, Prince of Darkness! Zeuro, Prince of Darkness!".  
Pleased by their respect, a smug smirk appeared on his face.

"Bring the  _Red Eye_!" – and the crowd cheered again, louder than before.

A moment of silence soon followed, only interrupted by the panting of two fellow Shadows clumsily carrying a huge sword, a bit too heavy for them.

"The sword shall be placed in front of our Master…" – he ordered.

The two silently obeyed and carefully jabbed the weapon into the ground. The blood-red ruby embedded between the sword's crossguards immediately started to glow menacingly, looking more like, not surprisingly, a  _red eye_. Zeuro grinned wildly as the entire room was engulfed in the ominous red light emitted by the cursed sword. The rest of the Shadows resumed their prayer-like chanting.

"Yes… YES! It's working!"

The mosaic looming over them suddenly started to glow too and emitted a pillar of purple-ish light that quickly overwhelmed the ominous weapon and the lifeless armor under it. The chanting was now even louder and more insistent.

"Rise, my Lord!"

Demonic screeching noises could be heard coming from the light-pillar as unfamiliar beast-like entities seemed to be teleported inside the armor. The chanting was now utterly oppressing as the screeching noises turned into actual words, words of a dead language spoken in a rather deep and unsettling tone of voice. A purple flash of light suddenly engulfed the entire crowd, including Zeuro. The society's arrogant and overconfident attitude was now replaced by a terrified blank expression on their faces, eyes glowing red; like puppets under a mind control spell, they all mindlessly (and fluently) repeated the words of that ancient language they never heard before, speaking in a unnatural deeper voice than usual.

And then they heard it, a piercing roaring scream of rage.  
As the light waned out, everything went silent.  
The pillar of light was gone; wielding the cursed sword, a tall, armor-like horned figure was standing where the pillar was, emitting an eerie breathing noise. Its dark, purple-ish appearance clashed with its two disturbingly white and shiny eyes, as bright as spotlights. A wicked smile-like facial expression was carved on his helmet, which was surrounded by a flickering fire beard.

The society was still dazed by what just happened and some of the members even fainted. Zeuro, however, recovered rather quickly. He blinked in disbelief and cautiously walked towards that ominous figure.

"Lord Deimor..." – he whispered. "Can… can your hear me…?"

There was no response. The Lord simply looked at its mighty sword, still glowing red.  
Zeuro nervously talked again.

"Do… do you recognize it, my Lord? It's your old sword…"  
"My… sword…"

Deimor's first words were spoken in a very deep but also somewhat noble tone of voice, not nearly as demonic as the Lord's appearance.

"You brought me back… how?" – he asked.  
"Your sword, my Lord. The ruby on your sword… it's a brand new one… it's a very rare and powerful artifact…" – as Zeuro talked, he seemed to gain courage, despite being in the presence of a legendary mighty embodiment of darkness. "It can pierce the barrier between dimensions. As long as you wield it, you'll have full access to any kind of dark power…"

The Dark Lord immediately wanted to try said powers. He raised his cursed sword, now eerily glowing purple. He fiercely swinged his weapon in the air and a series of fireball-like beams came out from the blade. The dark magic blasts hit other members of the society, which started to panic, scream and transform into more armor-like figures wearing skull-shaped masks; in matter of seconds, most of the Shadows in the temple became an army of cursed warriors.

At this point, the remaining Shadows didn't even try to hide their fear and tried to rush outside.

"Where are you going?! Don't you see?! It's not a curse! It's an honor! The Dark Lord has chosen you! Come back here, you cowards!" – Zeuro shouted, angrily.

Lord Deimor seemed pleased and immediately raised his sword again, ready to strike other members of the society with his new powers. As his weapon was already engulfed in a purple flame, he lost his breath somehow and felt unnaturally tired. The dark aura around him waned until it disappeared completely and even his fire beard went out.

"What is happening…? I feel… weak…" – he said, staggering back.

Zeuro was now disturbingly comfortable with was going on and simply explained how the sword really worked.

"My Lord, the ruby in your sword will give you an infinite amount of dark power once the Dimensional Alignment reaches its climax…" – he said, distractingly pointing at the mosaic above them. "And with you fully powered, we'll finally bring The Darkness to this puny, worthless Universe and…"

Deimor took a big loud breath and looked directly in the young man's green eyes, interrupting his soon-to-be gloating.

"You know, boy. For someone who claims to be the  _Prince of Darkness_ , you truly have no knowledge of it…" – he stated, in a serious tone. "The only thing worthless here is this ruby. It's not nearly as powerful as you think it is…"

The green-eyed Shadow felt personally offended by that remark.

"It brought  _you_  back!"

"Barely!" – the Lord shouted in anger, coughing and almost having trouble standing up. His word echoed like a thunder in that huge underground cavern-like room. There was little to no reaction from the rest of the society, now mostly composed by an army of mindless mooks.

Lord Deimor quickly calmed down, like he was some kind of patient professor trying to give a lecture to his stubborn students. He slid the sword back into his once-empty scabbard, hands behind his back.

"There's only one gem powerful enough to open the gates of The Forbidden Dimension…" – the Lord paused for a moment, coughing a bit. " _The Heart of Astria_. We need to find it… I can sense its mighty power… but it's very far from here…".

Zeuro looked both puzzled and impatient. "The Heart of…  _Astria_? How can you…? There's nothing written about it in the fairytale…"

Despite his limited facial features, Deimor somehow looked surprised.

"They wrote a fairytale about Astria…? How fascinating… but… not a very reliable source…" – he then walked towards Zeuro, towering over him. "Don't believe everything you read, boy..." – he whispered. The statement sounded more like a threat rather than an advice.

"Where… where do we find it?" – the young man asked.  
"You can't find it,  _prince_..." – that last word was spoken in a distinctive mocking tone of voice. "Or… should I say, we can't  _reach_  it. It's not in this dimension and we are all stuck here. The ability of dimension jumping was lost centuries ago, along with my Dimensional Scissors…" – he took another big breath, enraged by the unfavorable situation.

"Your Dimensional... you mean  _Prince Luxor_ 's scissors?"

Zeuro slipped a relatively large pair of scissors out of his coat and handed them to the Dark Lord, who eagerly grabbed them like it was the most precious treasure.

"They survived. After all these years…"  
"Hopping to one dimension to another won't be a problem, my Lord…"

With a confident smirk, the young green-eyed man signaled to his fellow Shadows to exhibit their own pair of scissors. One after another, they raised the hand holding the magical blades, each of them faintly glowing in the dark. Deimor remained silent as his spotlight-like eyes incredulously inspected the entire crowd around him.

"A lot of things have changed in the last couple of centuries, Master…"

As he heard Zeuro's statement, the carved face on the Lord's helmet seemingly turned into a disturbing smile of approval. His beard of flames lightened up again, eyes wide-open.

"And a lot more is going to change soon, boy…"

**End of Chapter 5**


	6. The Calm Before The Ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Grand Ball of Floria approaches. Star and Marco get ready for the fancy event, not without some awkwardness.

**Chapter 6 - The Calm Before The Ball**

Star woke up suddenly, dumbfounded, in her Mewni-styled bedroom on Earth. She panicked for a moment, fearing that she may have slept too much; the clock hanging on the wall said otherwise though, literally, in a friendly robotic voice: "You're not late for school, princess!"; just another piece of magical furniture created with her magic wand, and probably the most useful one. She stretched her arms high over her head and slipped a pair of bunny-looking flip-flops to her feet.

"Two days left…" – she thought.

She reached for her wand and magically made the bed. In a matter of seconds, all the sheets and pillows were cleaned and in order. "Nothing caught fire this time… nice!" - she noted.

Meanwhile, the scent of the Diazes' breakfast could be perceived in the whole house: Mr. Diaz, Marco's father, was a brilliant cook and his dishes were truly a morning delight. Marco himself was tasting the amazing flavor combinations of his meal, or  _trying to_ , as his parents wouldn't stop asking questions about Star's possible coronation as Queen.

"For the last time, Mom: I don't know. I haven't talked to her since yesterday…"  
"That's… her dream coming true. I must write a poem about this…" – she proudly announced. Her son rolled his eyes.  
"She had to talk to her parents first and I don't…" – but he was interrupted.

"Morning… sorry I'm late…"

Marco's parents stopped eating their meal and immediately got up in excitement as they saw Star joining them for breakfast.

"Aww… Star! Marco just told us the big news! We're so happy for you!" – Mrs. Diaz shouted.  
"Congratulations,  _princesa_!" – Mr. Diaz quickly followed.

They both hugged her tightly. "And we're so proud of you!". Star hugged them back, hiding her teary eyes. Marco cracked an amused smile but was quickly pulled in one of those awkward "group hugs" that he always pretended to hate.

"Thank you Mrs. and Mr. Diaz… sorry I missed the taco-night… my mother and I had to…"  
"Oh! Don't even dare to apologize! That's your future we're talking about!" – Mrs. Diaz reassured her. Marco's father then made her sit at the head of the table. "Come,  _princesa_. I made you a very special breakfast for this very special day…"

Star couldn't help but admire the result of Mr. Diaz's talent in front of her: a plate full of  _huevos rancheros_ (basically chilly, eggs and cheese wrapped in tortillas), one of her favorite dishes from Earth. "Mr. Diaz… it looks delicious…" – she said, with star-shaped pupils in her eyes.

They all enjoyed their morning meal for a couple of minutes but Mrs. Diaz, without losing her enthusiastic smile, couldn't resist anymore and had to ask the most important (and uncomfortable) question: "So, Star… when is the big day coming?". A moment of silence followed. They all stopped eating and looked at the princess; Star's lips turned into what could be described as a mournful smile.

"Two days from now…"

Her announcement was greeted in an astonished calm. They were happy for her, but didn't realize how fast this could happen. The Diazes continued to smile, but their eyes told a different story. That quiet moment turned unpleasant very soon and, much to everyone's surprise, Marco was the first one to break the silence, with a huge grin on his face.

"That's awesome,  _Posa_!"

Star looked at her best friend cheering for her and smiled back. "Thanks…". Marco's parents quickly followed their son's reaction and congratulated again. They continued to taste that delicious breakfast, but each bite of that culinary masterpiece felt bitter after Star's announcement.  
After almost four years, she was going to leave.  
And this time for real.

* * *

"I'm serious, dude. My costume is one prehensile tail away from perfection!"

The school cafeteria was crowded as usual, despite the horrible lunch. Marco didn't have any appetite and the repulsive look of that sloppy food he was supposed to eat (or even enjoy) didn't help at all, especially after his dad's stunning breakfast. Like almost every day, he was sharing the table with his two friends Alfonso and Ferguson, the latter exposing his ideas on how to improve the opossum suit that, as the school mascot, he had to (proudly) wear on a number of occasions.

"A prehensile tail and retractable claws, obviously…"  
"Opossums don't have claws like that…" – Alfonso corrected, tipping his glasses.  
"You know nothing, Alfie… what do you think, Marco?"

The boy didn't answer immediately.  
With a bank, thoughtful expression, he was distractingly poking his sloppy food with a spoon.

"Earth to Marco…" – he insisted, snapping his fingers in front of him.  
"Who… what?" – he looked at his friends and quickly tried to guess an answer for a question he didn't even heard in the first place. "Uhm… Wednesday…?".

Both Alfonso and Ferguson replied with an unimpressed look, but they weren't stupid: they knew that something was bothering him. "You OK, Marco? You've been acting strange the whole morning… more than usual I mean…"

Marco cracked an obviously fake smile and nervously continued to poke the food in his plate. "I'm fine, guys. It's… there's this math test coming and…"  
"Dude, that was last week… and you got an A+ as usual…"

The boy tried to avoid the subject with an embarrassingly loud laughter. "Sorry, man. Guess I'm just really tired. Last Saturday me and Star went dimension jumping all night and I didn't catch enough sleep since then…" – he said, continuing to sport that fake grin, but he wasn't a good liar anyway.

Ferguson and Alfonso shared a knowing glance, like they just found out someone's dirtiest secret. "Of course…" – they said, with a smirk.

"Wait… what was that about…?" – Marco quickly asked, noticing his friends' suspicious tone of voice. They didn't have the time to answer though as a blonde-haired girl suddenly landed behind them.

"Oh, hi Star! Marco was just talking about you…" – Ferguson said, teasing him.  
"Really?" – the girl asked, puzzled but smiling at his friend.  
"What? Yes. Dah… I mean no…" – he replied nervously, but she didn't seem to notice.

The princess sat next to him, ignoring his shaky tone of voice and confusing answer.  
"Sorry to interrupt, but I forgot to ask you something really important this morning…" – she said, but something else caught her attention. "Whoa, that's some bad-looking food…" – she commented, upon noticing Marco's plate.  
"What food?" – he replied, in a deadpan tone.

Star gently raised her magic wand, which started to glow. "Let me turn it into something at least edible…". A small rainbow-colored beam of light hit the boy's meal as Star muttered some intelligible words. Marco's weak attempt at stopping her didn't work and the pudding-like thing he was supposed to eat immediately transformed into a winged-spider made of mashed potatoes. The eldritch beast roared in their faces and flied away, out of the window, with no reaction from the rest of the students, by far used to Star's mishaps.

"Whoops…" – Star sighed, but then giggled a bit. Marco sighed, unimpressed instead.  
"It's OK. Wasn't going to eat that anyway…" – he then looked at his magical friend, intrigued. "So, about that important thing you were going to…" – but he couldn't finish the sentence.

Ferguson intrusively sat between them, fascinated by the princess's powers.

"Star, hey… do you think you can… I don't know… use your wand to improve my opossum suit? I was thinking of retractable claws, a prehensile tail…" – Star looked sincerely interested in those requests. "We already talked about this, Ferg. You don't need a prehensile tail. What you need is a laser-shooting prehensile tentacle!" – she said, with a mischievous smirk.  
"That's probably going to take a while…" – Alfonso commented, noticing Marco's annoyed expression.

The boy, however, didn't have time for that. He coughed to get both Star and Ferguson's attention and they finally stopped talking about their dream-suit. "Right! The Grand Ball!" – the princess said, patting her head. "Sorry, Ferg. Can you let me talk to Marco for a bit…?

Ferguson simply nodded and as he turned to Marco, his smirk returned. "Sure, Star. It's all yours…" – he said, in a knowing tone, much to the boy's frustration. He then let the two inter-dimensional friends sit next to each other.

"So, you were saying…?" – Marco asked, hoping that nothing opossum-related was going to interrupt them this time. "I heard you say something about…"  
"A Grand Ball, yep…" – she stated. "It's for Prince Cloro's birthday and I've been invited to…"  
"Oh yeah, Prince Cloro… I like that guy…" – he said, remembering their adventure on Floria. "Say 'hi' to him for me…"

The princess chuckled.

"You can say 'hi' to him in person… tonight. If you want to come I mean. I can bring one person with me apparently…" – she slipped the invitation out of her backpack and, with a cheesy grin, handed it to Marco. The boy inspected it, noticing the Florian royal seal.  
"Whoa. That's some serious stuff…" – he noticed. Star seemed to get a bit worried.  
"Yeah… Mom also said this is my first real assignment as the future Queen of Mewni and… and I don't really want to… you know… mess everything up…"

The boy nervously rubbed his neck. "A Grand Ball?" he thought; he wasn't a big fan of those fancy events, especially when they involved dancing. But he then looked at his magical friend, who sincerely wanted him to join her on such important event.  
He just couldn't say 'No', not this time at least.

"Alright… I'll come with you…" – he finally said, with an encouraging smile.  
Star's reaction was predictably high-pitched. "Yes! Thank you! Quick hugs!"

And he felt his magical friend's arms around him. "Thank you!" - she repeated.

"But I'm  _not_  going to dance…" – he then clarified, gently pushing her back.  
"Of course… bad boys don't dance…" – she responded, in an amused, mocking tone.

She then grabbed her backpack and the invitation and rushed outside of the school cafeteria, without losing her usual whimsical grin. Marco had his eyes glued on her until she disappeared behind a door, like this was the last time he'd ever see her.

"Dude, that was awesome!"

Marco slowly turned around, confused by Ferguson's sudden enthusiastic tone of voice. His friends were once again sporting that weirdly annoying smirk that he just couldn't stand.

"What are you talking about…?" – he asked, squinting his eyes suspiciously.  
"You and Star!" – he responded, with a 'Isn't it obvious?' look.

The boy squinted his eyes even more, somehow puzzled. But he soon realized what his friend was talking about: Marco's eyes went now wider and coughed nervously.

"What?!" – he shrieked.  
They both laughed in return. "That's  _totally_  a date…"  
"No! No, it's not!"  
"Yes it is…" – Ferguson insisted, teasing him.

Marco groaned and rolled his eyes in frustration: this wasn't the first time that these two nudged him about his chemistry with Star and it won't be last. They actually started to talk more often about it in the last few months and he just couldn't understand why.  
The topic somewhat made him uncomfortable.

"Guys… seriously… not even close…" – he said, with a fake confident smile.  
"Come on, dude. You've been gushing over her since… forever!"

The boy's fake grin turned into a scowl very quickly. "I'm… I'm not gushing over Star…" – he stuttered, like that was the most offensive thing somebody said to him.

"I don't blame you. She  _is_  a princess after all…"  
"Guys, I'm not gu-" – but Alfonso cut him off.  
"And you're perfect for each other. You two are like… Ferguson and his opossum suit!"

Ferguson turned to Alfonso and nodded. "You know, he's right…" – he then added. "Don't you see? This grand-ball-thing is just like a prom! That's your chance to…"  
"Shut it, Ferg!"

Marco suddenly got up, ending the entire (and, to him, 'idiotic') discussion. He tried to look as enraged as possible, but he was just really uncomfortable with talking about Star like that.

"It's NOT a date. Stop looking for unspoken feelings, OK?"

The two friends were actually surprised by his rude response. "Dude, chill. Why are you freaking out…?" – but Marco didn't clam down. "And I'm NOT freaking out because Star is leaving!" – the boy added, arms crossed, before realizing that last thing he said.

"Whoa… Star's leaving… when?" – Alfonso asked, dumbfounded by the sudden news. Ferguson had a very similar reaction. "Dude… I'm sorry… want to talk about it…?" – he was genuinely worried for Marco, especially considering the impressive interdimensional friendship they built over the years.

The boy theatrically ignored that last question and pulled his red hoodie over his head, grabbed his own backpack and walked away, hands in his pockets, avoiding eye contact or any other human interaction. Alfonso suggested to follow him around, but Ferguson shook his head in response. "Let's just leave him alone for awhile…".

* * *

"Pigtails… Ponytails… Pigtails… Ponytails…"

Standing in front of the mirror in her Mewni-styled bedroom, Star was repeatedly bopping her head gently with her magic wand, cycling through hairstyles. "Maybe I should just go for the regular one…" – she concluded, and with a last flash of bright light, her blonde hair fell down to her waist. "Perfect!".  
In that moment, somebody knocked to her door.

"…Star?"

The princess shouted a "Come in!".  
The door opened and upon noticing Marco's reflection right behind her doppelganger in the mirror, she joyfully turned to him.

"Awww… Marco, you look amazing!" – she said. The boy wasn't really that formal dressed though, as he didn't own any tux. He was wearing a formal jacket with a  _papillon_  and his otherwise regular dark-colored jeans and sneakers. "Nice bowtie…" – she commented.

Marco chuckled nervously. "Thanks,  _Posa_. You too…" – the boy was trying to hide his 'jaw-drop' reaction as Star's dress was the fanciest thing he ever saw; it had some kind of foliage motif to it and, despite the princess' space-related name, she definitely looked more like an elegant blooming flower this time. And Star herself was simply gorgeous. "You're… you're beautiful…" – he said, trying to sound as neutral as possible about it.

A few seconds of silence followed, but they didn't stop smiling at each other. The moment was soon interrupted by Star's robotic clock, which suddenly started to remind them how late it was. The princess gasped and reached for her dimensional scissors.

"Star, wait… before we go…"

The girl looked at her friend, puzzled. "What is it, Marco?"  
They then heard a woman giggling just outside of her room. "I'm really sorry, Star…".  
The princess didn't even have the time to finish her "For what?" as Mrs. and Mr. Diaz rushed in her bedroom, both with a huge excited grin on their face, cutting her off.

"My parents…" – Marco muttered, with an embarrassed smile on his face.

Mrs. Diaz's eyes went teary as soon as she saw the two kids standing side by side. "You two are so… adorable…". Star tried to thank her but was once again interrupted, this time by a bright flash of light, not from her wand though. "Sorry, I had to take a picture…" – Marco's mom confessed, with a guilty tone of voice.

"You're going to own the dance floor… this  _joven_  here is a great dancer…" – Mr. Diaz stated, proudly patting his son's shoulder. Marco's cheeks turned blood-red in seconds.  
"You… dance?" – Star asked, with a teasing but otherwise sincere smile.  
"No, I don't…" – he quickly replied, pushing his father away.

But both parents didn't seem to notice their son's chagrin. "Don't be silly, moon-pie…" – the nickname was followed by Marco awkwardly covering his face with his hands. The mother then turned to Star. "He took dance lessons with my niece, Emilia. You should have seen them doing Tango together…". The princess was absolutely interested and giggled gleefully.

"Mom, I was only ten… that was years ago…" – the boy tried to end the discussion, unsuccessfully: his family seemed determined to make the moment even more awkward though.

"Wait… I think I have a couple of pictures of him somewhere on my phone…"  
"There are… pictures…?" – Star gasped, almost whispering. "I have to see them…"

Marco cracked a terrified smirk. "No, she doesn't! Don't listen to her!" – he snapped. "Star, open the portal!" – he muttered through clenched teeth.  
"But… I want to see the adorable little Marco…" – she responded, comically pinching one of his blushing cheeks. "You're so cute when you're embarrassed…".

That was the last straw for him.

He reached for Star's scissors and abruptly opened a portal to the Floria Kingdom.  
"Sorry! We're super late! Bye!" – he said, without even looking at his parents. "Come on, princess, let's go…" – he added, in a deadpan tone.

Star felt Marco's hands grabbing her wrists and they both jumped in the portal, finally leaving the Diazes and their amazing talent at embarrassing their only son behind them.

**End of Chapter 6**


	7. Bad Boys Don't Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deeper, unspoken feelings start to emerge as Star and Marco share their first dance together during Cloro's birthday.  
> But dangers are hiding in plain sight...

**Chapter 7 – Bad Boys Don't Dance**

Stars glittering in the night-sky, lavish costumes, fountains, elegant decorations, a rich buffet and Florian classical music played by a live orchestra: the Grand Ball of Floria was as fancy as Star expected. The vast terrace where the dance was being held was crowded with some of the most important people from the Kingdom and other dimensions as well. And the princess had to greet every one of them, as part of her "first real assignment", as her Mother told her on Mewni the day before.

"Duke of Urbia, such a pleasure to meet you…"  
"Countess Riva, you look wonderful tonight…"

And every one of them looked pleasantly surprised to see the infamous rebellious princess of Mewni finally acting like a real member of a royal family. "Nothing caught fire… yet…" – she would even joke, in a self-mocking but still dignified tone of voice.

For about one hour, Marco followed Star around, as surprised as everybody else for her regal and responsible behavior. They were surrounded by the highest aristocracy from Floria, from countless of other Kingdoms and, for the first time ever, while hanging out with his best friend, he felt somehow out of place. "She's a princess…" – he seemed to realize, feeling stupid for having overlooked Star's obvious royal status all this time.

"I'm sorry… hope you're not getting bored or anything…" – she said, noticing how unnaturally silent Marco was.  
"Are you kidding...? It's an honor to be here…" – he quickly reassured, taking a sip of a punch-like beverage from his cup. "Actually… I thought these guys were here for Prince Cloro… where is he…?" – he then asked.

Star tried to think of an answer, but was cut off by a loud shrieking sound coming from the sky; in that moment, a car-sized moth-monster glided above them. Flapping its gigantic wings, it gently landed in the middle of the crowd. There was a stir among the guests, but most of them started to applaud the beast. Or, more precisely, the young man who was riding it. Sliding down the giant moth's wing, Prince Cloro was welcomed with enthusiasm and the crowded terrace cheered for him as he triumphantly raised his family's most precious heirloom: an handcrafted golden scepter with a huge diamond on top.

The latecomer prince was complimented by his guests as he tried to make his way through the people he had to shake hands with. Despite the grand entrance, Star and Marco noted that Cloro had a serious, blank expression on his face.

"He's… he's coming here…"

The prince walked in their direction, proudly holding the important scepter. He didn't bat an eye even when he stopped inches away from their faces, towering over both Star and Marco. Even the music stopped as everyone assumed that Cloro was going to be mad about something or with someone, until he suddenly stretched his arms and cracked a huge smile.

"Star! Marco! Glad you made it!" – the prince shouted, hugging his two teenage guests.

A general sigh of relief could be heard across the terrace: Cloro's pretentious and smug-ish appearance sometimes fooled people into expecting a spoiled behavior from him, even though he was probably the friendliest royal figure in his own Kingdom.

"Happy Birthday, Prince Cloro!" – Star hugged him back, but she couldn't help to admire the beautiful scepter he was wielding. "Is this the legendary…"  
"Yes. The Guffin Scepter, our greatest family heirloom…" – the prince explained, smiling, but with a bored tone of voice: they probably asked him this question so many times in the last few hours. "I inherited it from my father: it's a Florian tradition. You turn 20 and you suddenly own this thing…".

Cloro inspected the scepter, his face reflecting on the huge diamond that adorned it. "Legend says…" – he said, with a grin, knowing that Star was a big fan of ancient stories. "…that this diamond was once the heart of a magical princess and that her spirit lies dormant in it…".

Not surprisingly, Star was enthusiastic. "Ok. The heart-part is a bit 'eeew' but it's still beautiful…" she thought. The prince cut off any reaction though as he slipped the heirloom under his regal coat, completely changing the subject. "Have you seen Mothy?".

"Your pet moth?" – Star asked.  
"Moth? That thing was bigger than my head…" – Marco added.

The prince chuckled a bit and took a small, purple cube from his pocket. "Florian Sugar: she loves it…" – he said, with a smirk. He then blew on his hand, turning that small cube into a sweet cloud of powdered sugar. In that moment, the winged beast that Cloro rode seconds before soared and glided towards them, emitting more alarming shrieking sounds, earning some stray looks from the crowd. It heavily landed in front of the prince, making the ground shake, its face engulfed in that floating white dust, using its enormous tongue to literally "eat" that sweet cloud. Despite its monstrous appearance, the giant bug looked delighted.

Marco was startled. " _That's_  Mothy?!" – he shouted.  
"Awww… they grow up so fast…" – Star remarked, her eyes gleaming like she just saw a cute, defenseless puppy. Mothy bent down to the princess and rubbed her giant head on her, making purr-like sounds as Star gently petted her. "She remembers me!" – she was almost moved by the (subjective) cuteness. The giant moth then turned to Marco and licked him, drooling all over his clothes. "Yeah… she remembers me too…" – he said, in a deadpan tone, as the beast used his tentacle-like tongue to steal his cup of punch.

Mothy, satisfied by the tasty treats, flapped her giant wings and flew away, disappearing in the night sky of Floria, a sky that was occasionally brightened by unusual and weak flashes of light.

"A storm…?" – Marco asked, puzzled.  
"No…" – Star's face turned gloomy for a moment. "It's already happening…" she thought, concerned for her upcoming coronation. She then turned to her friend, with a faint smile, and told him what was going to happen in the Universe. "It's the Dimensional Alignment…".

* * *

The Grand Ball of Floria for Cloro's birthday proceeded well, with no complications.  
In fact, it was boring. "Star, I know there are no life-eating plants threatening us, but you really should open another black hole…" the prince joked, referring to what happened one year earlier. "That would be definitely more exciting than this…".

"Is it safe?" was Marco's first reaction upon learning about the imminent Alignment.  
He had nothing to fear, as this unique event already happened "more than once in the history of the Universe", as Star reassured, but that didn't stop him to get anxious about it for a while, drowning his (irrational) anxiety into more cups of that delicious Florian punch-like beverage.

And that's how he spent most of the night, near the buffet, drinking something.  
He chatted with Cloro a bit, but the prince had to entertain other guests, being himself the guest of honor and the reason everyone was there in the first place.  
He couldn't really follow his royal friend around either, but the boy did keep an eye on her, from a distance: she was busy being a princess, in the most political way this time. Star was basically acting like an ambassador from Mewni and, seeing the calm and polite reactions of the local aristocracy, it was clear that she was actually doing a great impression. "Did she even bring the wand…?" Marco wondered, noticing the unprecedented lack of flaming rainbows.

He took one more sip of punch from his cup when it happened: the music changed into a slower-paced, valzer-like piece, probably a well-known song on Floria as everyone on that terrace nodded in approval and smiled, gently taking the hand of their partner. The whole thing looked more like a terrifying high school prom to Marco, who nervously gulped down the last cup of his new favorite drink.

Hands in his pockets, the boy cautiously walked around the dance floor, like he was avoiding a mine field, inspecting the crowd slow-dancing to the music and moving like leaves in the breeze (quite literally, since most of the Florian fancy clothes were actually made of plants and leaves). He would have probably walked through the entire perimeter of the dance floor if he hadn't bumped into her, her sincere smile immediately brightening his night.

"Hey…" – he said. "Busy night… uh?"  
Star rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me…"- she then sighed in relief, smiling again.  
Marco got closer to her and they both continued watching in silence the upper class figures dancing in front of them. "Where's Cloro…?" – he asked.  
"Apparently, there's a tradition on Floria that says that the prince has to dance with every woman invited to his birthday…" – the princess then looked to an undefined point in the crowd. "There he is, all tied up with the much older Countess Riva…" – she giggled quietly, noticing the uncomfortable age-difference.

The two teens stood there, like they were waiting for something. Marco peeked at his friend, hoping she wouldn't notice: he forgot how gorgeous she was tonight, with that foliage-themed dress on. But, most importantly, he couldn't ignore how Star loved dancing; it's probably one of the first things he learned about her when she first came to Earth. "What is happening to me…?" he wondered, loosening his collar.

He lent his hand to her, trying to act cool about it, even though he was visibly sweating.  
"Come on… let's go…" – he said, tilting his head in the direction of the dance floor.  
Star was genuinely surprised. "Awww… don't worry, Marco. You don't have to…"  
"Come on…" – he insisted, with a smirk.

The princess raised an eyebrow, puzzled by the safe-kid's sudden decision and gently took his hand. The boy escorted Star through the crowd on the dance floor and then turned to her, holding both her hands now. "OK, let me lead this one… this Florian dance looks similar to the one I learned back on Earth…". Marco cautiously put his hands on her hips and she put hers on his shoulders; and they started to move, swaying slowly to the beat of the music.

It felt somehow awkward at first, mostly for Marco, who kept his eyes glued to their feet, making sure she was not going to step on them (or vice versa).

But as they continued to dance, the two became more comfortable with the situation.  
They playfully emulated the more intricate movements of the dancers around them, trying not to burst into laughter in the middle of an otherwise silent and formal moment like this one.

Star was startled. "I thought you didn't know how to dance…" – she whispered.  
Marco responded with a smug smile that looked more like a nervous grin. "I said I  _don't_  dance, not that I can't do it…"  
She chuckled and faked a serious look. "Of course…  _bad boys_  don't dance…"

They didn't know how much time passed, maybe a couple of minutes, but it felt like hours. The two kept looking into each other's eyes, like they always did in the last four years, more often than they even realized.

Then, something sparked within them. "What is happening to me….?" Star thought, her heart-shaped cheeks glowing softly as she almost saw her own reflection in the boy's brown eyes. She never really felt like this, not around him at least.  
Not with Marco, her best friend from Earth.

And Marco himself was not new to these feelings lately, something that he would have never admitted. Despite the crowded room, he only had eyes for her and couldn't look away even if he tried. He was simply returning her smile, but desperately wanted to tell her the truth, tell her how beautiful she was tonight.  
How beautiful she's always been.

They didn't realize how close they were now, the tips of their noses tickling the other's. The two teens weren't really dancing now, not even moving. They just stood there, in the middle of the dance floor, her hands on his shoulders, his on her hips, staring at each other like no one was there.

"Uhm… excuse me…"

They both turned around dumbfounded, like waking up from a dream, and noticed an embarrassed prince Cloro next to them: they didn't know how long he's been standing there.

"I'm sorry but… there's this tradition… those guys are watching me and…"

The prince was perfectly aware of his bad timing: he knew that there was something going on between Star and Marco; but some higher ups of the kingdom were taking notes of his actions and so he had no choice but to follow those "pointless traditions" and dance with every woman of the Grand Ball, including the princess from Mewni.

The two teens chuckled nervously and reassured their Florian friend. Cloro carefully took Star's hand and guided her on the other side of the terrace. Marco smiled for a bit, eyes glued on the princess, who turned around and smiled back at him, right before disappearing in the crowd with the prince.

Sidelined again, Marco renewed his interest in the rich buffet, but he wasn't really alone this time. As he started to drink another cup of punch, mindlessly watching the dancing aristocracy from a distance, hoping to catch a glimpse of Star's bright smile one more time, he was joined by a tall figure in a long coat.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up, if I were you…"

Marco turned to the speaker, with a puzzled look. "Excuse me…?" – he responded, making sure he sounded as unimpressed as possible.

"That girl, Star Butterfly, she's… well… she's a princess…" – the figure talked in a calm tone of voice instead, but with an unsettling, knowing smirk drawn on his face. "And you are… what are you, exactly…?" – he asked, with a mildly disgusted look.  
The boy didn't even care about that and ignored the figure's clear attempt at provoking him. "None of your business, I guess…" – he responded, sipping from his cup, hiding a smug grin.

The tall figure squinted his eyes, unsatisfied by the boy's disrespectful reaction.  
"Doesn't matter anyway…" – he scoffed. "Only a prince is worthy of a princess…" – the figure finished the sentence making a disturbing sound with his tongue, like he was tasting something delicious, or imagining it.

Marco fought the urge to fly-kick this guy out of the terrace, like he was one of Ludo's minions, but he had to settle for a simpler, calmer, snarky-sounding response instead. "And I guess you're some kind of prince…"

The tall figure's lips curled into a smirk as he turned to him. "Oh…  _I am_  a prince…". He slipped a thick truncheon out of his coat and pushed a button on its handle. The stick-like object emitted a flickering light accompanied by alarming zapping sound. Marco's eyes went wider in terror as he noticed how other truncheon-wielding figures revealed themselves in the crowded dance floor, raising their own stunstick-like weapons. Some guests gasped in confusion and panicked. "I'm Zeuro, the  _Prince of Darkness_ …" – the figure whispered, his bright green eyes glowing rabidly.

In seconds, The Grand Ball of Floria turned into an ambush.

**End of Chapter 7**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written back in March/April 2015, months before the "Blood Moon Ball" episode, so this was canonically Star and Marco's first dance together. Glad the show blessed us with that beautiful waltz scene though...
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	8. Florian Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaos ensues as the Shadows storm prince Cloro's birthday. Leaded by Zeuro, they're after the legendary "Heart of Astria", an ancient gem that Star knows very well...

**Chapter 8 – Florian Ambush**

It was supposed to be a formal, calm ceremony for the prince's 20th birthday, not a riot.  
Masked, red-eyed figures snickering darkly, disturbingly enjoying the havoc they were wrecking. Many guests were violently robbed; tables were flipped, spilling their rich toppings; the few guards that tried to intervene were brutally beaten and zapped by those stunstick-like weapons, leaving them unconscious.

A grinning Zeuro calmly walked through the riot-torn terrace, green eyes glued on his target while spinning his stunstick menacingly. He arrogantly ignored the terrified aristocrats around him, intentionally letting them escape. "Prince Cloro!" – he shouted, a smirk drawn on his face. "I was just looking for you…".

The Florian prince drew his sword in response as two other Shadows tried to attack him from behind. Showing no sign of surprise, Cloro turned around and fended them off with his blade, damaging their masks in the process.

"I don't know who you are, but you're not welcome here…" – the prince stated.  
"Uh-uh… I'm so scared…" - Zeuro chuckled sarcastically and quickly zapped the prince with the stunstick, disarming him. Dazed and almost immobilized by the electricity, Cloro felt Zeuro's hand inside his coat and immediately realized what he was looking for. "There it is…" – the green-eyed Shadow said, satisfied, violently pushing the prince away from him, carefully inspecting the scepter he just stole; or, more precisely, the diamond that adorned it.

"Well… that was easier than I thought…" – he said, checking his reflection on the gem.  
Staggering towards him, Cloro tried to keep a dignified posture. "You vile thief!" – he hissed. "Your hands are not worthy of holding the Guffin Scepter!".  
Zeuro rolled his eyes, more amused than threatened by the prince's language. "First of all, that name is ridiculous…" – and proceeded to zap him one more time. "Second, this is not… whatever you called it…" – the stunstick emitted a charging sound. "This gem here… its powers are nearly infinite… it's the key to open the gates of the Forbidden Dimension…"

Cloro fell at the feet of his aggressor, weakened by the electric weapon. "You lie, thief. The Forbidden Dimension is no more than a legend!"  
Zeuro squinted his eyes at him, feeling insulted. "And you are history, prince…" – he muttered.

The green-eyed Shadow raised his glowing stunstick, clenching his teeth in ecstasy: he was so going to enjoy this royal beating. Cloro, disarmed and defenseless, didn't bat an eye and looked directly at his soon-to-be mugger, like he was challenging him to do his best.  
Or, in this case, worst.

As Zeuro swung his stunstick, he caught a glimpse of a bright multi-colored flash of light and something huge hit him from the side after that, losing balance and the scepter; it was the body of a fellow Shadow being thrown across the room by some kind of magical force.

"May I see your invitation again…?"

Star's mocking tone of voice was a direct affront to Zeuro's hubris; he quickly stood up, paying no attention to the unconscious Shadow at his feet and once again charged his electric weapon, sporting a smug grin in a weak attempt to hide his anger.

"Star Butterfly… I presume…"  
The princess shrugged sarcastically. "Maybe. And you are…?"  
"Oh... I, too, am a prince. I'm Zeuro, the Prince of Darkness…"  
"Well… that's lovely…" – she continued to talk in that deadpan tone.

Prince Cloro slowly got up, grabbing the scepter that his aggressor lost moments before. He cautiously walked next to Star, who was now pointing her wand at the green-eyed foe. The tension raised and they were now surrounded by other stunstick-wielding Shadows.

"Uhm… I guess we're going to have some fun then…"

The princess didn't feel intimidated and responded with a smirk. "You have no idea…"

That last sentence was interpreted as some kind of signal: the Shadows growled in anger and rushed towards Star and Cloro. The princess immediately jumped, avoiding an electric blast from one of Zeuro's skull-masked henchmen, muttering some magic words while in mid-air: a series of bee-looking arrows were fired from her wand; some Shadows moaned in pain but most of them dodged the attack or even endured it.

In the meantime, still holding the precious scepter, Cloro reached for his spare-sword, hidden in his coat and quickly disposed of a couple of Shadows in front of him. Fighting with a sword on one hand and the Guffin on the other proved a bit too tricky though "Star, catch!" – he shouted, while two enemies attempted to block him. The princess promptly raised her hand as the Florian Prince threw his family heirloom to her; Star jumped again and nonchalantly bounced on one henchmen's head, catching the scepter by its handle. The princess flipped mid-air and landed in front of another group of stunstick-wielding Shadows.

"Those guys are tougher than Ludo's monsters…" – she thought, pointing her wand at them.

Growling in frustration, one of the henchmen grabbed her dress' long ribbons and violently pulled her close. Star didn't even have the time to charge her wand as the Shadow's masked face was fiercely struck by a flying kick; the enemy staggered back and Star quickly finished him with one of her colorful fist-like spells.

"Thanks, Marco!" – she said, fighting side by side with him, like they always did in the last few years. "Hope you're having fun now!"  
The boy smiled back, holding his fighting stance. "I have to say… not the Grand Ball I was expecting…" – he responded, kicking one more Shadow in his masked face.

The two kept warding off the dark figures' attacks but they soon found themselves surrounded. "Cloro!" – Star called, noticing the Florian prince in the distance: it was his turn now to catch the royal scepter as the princess threw it to him, far from the Shadow's clutches. While Cloro fended off yet another Shadow, Star summoned one of her huge narwhal blasts, disposing of the enemies around her; as Marco drew the remaining henchmen's attention on him, the princess turned to their leader, teasing him once again with a daring smirk.

"Hey,  _Zero_!" – she shouted, in a mocking tone, her wand gleaming with bright colors.

The so-called prince responded with a green-eyed glare and charged his stunstick menacingly.

"I thought this was a Grand Ball. Come on, prince… you and me… let's dance!" – she added, teasing him with a 'come here' gesture.

Zeuro hissed something in what probably was his native language and rushed towards the princess, clenching his sharp-looking teeth, his weapon emitting threatening zapping sounds. Dodging an electric blast, Star shot a series of rainbow-ish bullets from her wand, which Zeuro quickly deflected with his electric stick. Two more Shadows suddenly appeared next to him after that, easily outnumbering the princess. As the three of them attacked her at the same time, Star twirled her glowing wand, casting a defensive spell. "Bubble Shield!" – she screeched and her attackers bounced off of her, one of them crashing into a fountain.

Near the buffet, Marco was dealing with his dose of masked henchmen. Despite his efforts, the Shadows surprisingly endured his martial arts and eventually trapped him. As the figures loomed darkly over the sake kid, the boy inspected the table behind him, hoping to find something that might help; the moment he noticed a bowl full of that familiar purple powder, prince Cloro theatrically appeared between him and the Shadows, warding them off for a moment with his blade. He then grabbed Marco and both jumped behind the buffet. As the Shadows charged their weapons one more time, Cloro flipped the table, engulfing the dark figures with a cloud of purple powder. "Florian Sugar…" Marco remembered. The two crouched behind the flipped table just as a shrieking Mothy suddenly nosedived from the night sky, lured by the now sweet-flavored Shadows; the hungry beast's tentacle-like tongue caused sheer terror among that group of masked henchmen, who immediately ran away, screaming and panicking. "Good girl…" – Cloro said, patting the monster's head as it emitted a satisfied purr-like noise.

The crashed fountain's water poured on the floor, soon forming a rather large puddle. Star's and Zeuro's feet splashed frequently on that slippery wet layer as the two continued to fight. The princess was quickly joined by her two friends, with Cloro holding the Guffin heirloom; the three dropped into a fighting stance, confidently teasing the green-eyed prince.

"That was fun,  _Zero_. May I see your invitation now?"  
"You're a bunch of fools, Star Butterfly. The Shadows won't give up so easily…" – Zeuro's patience wore off as he spoke. "Our Master is coming and soon, very soon, we will…"  
" _Take over the Universe_?" – Marco cut him off, sarcastically. "Now _that's_  shocking…"  
Zeuro narrowed his eyes in response, a sinister smirk drawn on his face. "Interesting choice of words…"

The Shadow leader turned on his electric truncheon and jumped just outside of that huge puddle of water. With a quick movement, he struck the wet floor with his weapon, turning in into a high-voltage trap, shocking Star, Marco and Cloro, who were completely caught off guard. A maniacally-grinning Zeuro witnessed the three friends screaming in agony as he kept his weapon charged, until the Florian Prince finally lost the grip of his precious scepter, which was sent flying across the terrace, falling right in Zeuro's hands.

"Indeed, princess Butterfly. That was fun…" – the dark prince snickered, as he delightfully watched his enemies almost passing out on the soaked ground in front of him. Star's senses slowly started to function again properly and slowly got up: she felt portions of her dress wet and shredded by that last attack. While Cloro painfully crawled himself just outside that large puddle, the princess instinctively turned to his friend from Earth. "Marco…" – he whispered. The boy seemed to have a small adrenaline rush upon hearing Star saying his name and tried to get up as fast as possible, but the slippery floor made it difficult. They then exchanged a reassured look: despite Zeuro's shocking attack, they were fine. Weak, but alive. The two battle-mates eventually got up calmly, holding each other, feeling the dark prince's green eyes glued on them, well aware of how amusing all of that was for their new enemies.

As they joined Cloro outside of the puddle, they heard Zeuro break the silence with a maniacal laugh; he got what he wanted, raising the Guffin Scepter in a victory pose.

"And now… witness the true powers of the Heart of Astria…" – he proclaimed.

Star recognized that name in a moment: the fairy-tale she was a fan of, that she always wanted to live in a way or another, seemed to leak into the real world, but not as she would have expected. "Astria… Shadows… Darkness…" she thought, realizing that maybe, just maybe, the Legend of Astria was not a legend at all. While deep in her thoughts, she felt Marco's confused look on her. Despite not being a fan of that story and its "love themes", the boy knew that legend very well, as Star told him dozen of times.

"Star… isn't Astria the princess from…" – he was going to ask, but his magical friend interrupted him just as he spoke.  
"Yes… and if there's an Astria… there's a Darkness…" – she said, her voice cracking a bit as she realized that even her favorite fairytale had its amounts of dark, dangerous elements. "And if there's a Darkness… there is…"

An intense purple light engulfed the room as a portal opened in the middle of the Florian terrace, a few feet away from the green-eyed prince. The Shadows seemed to gain new motivation upon seeing that interdimensional door and immediately gathered around that magical gate. A dark, bulky, horned figure emerged from the portal, its two bright white eyes being the only visible facial feature at first. As the portal closed behind it, Zeuro bowed in respect and the other Shadows quickly did the same. The so-called prince raised the stolen scepter, offering the heirloom to his master.

"My Lord, I present to you the one and only Heart of Astria, just as you commanded…"

The armored figure, arms behind is back, hidden by his cape, heavily stepped towards his devoted minion, inspecting Cloro's scepter.

In that moment, Star felt her wand flapping its wings and it started to shake, like –as crazy as that sounded- scared by something. In that same moment, the princess recognized the horned "master" that Zeuro was bowing to. That was the villain of her favorite fairytale.  
"Lord Deimor" – she whispered.

**End of Chapter 8**


	9. Syrupy Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deimor arrives on Floria and his presence seems to have some weird effects on Star's magic wand...

**Chapter 9 – Syrupy Shadows**

An ambush, then some sort of silent and dark ritual.  
The Grand Ball of Floria was surely an unpredictable event. And also deserted.

All the important guests, the members of the Florian aristocracy, disappeared as the Shadows started to storm the place. The same Shadows that stood now in respectful silence as their true leader, Lord Deimor, emerged from a portal. The self-proclaimed prince of darkness, Zeuro, bowed to him in an almost religious devotion and offered Cloro's Guffin Scepter to him, revealed to be the Heart of Astria, the mystical gem able to open the gates of the legendary Forbidden Dimension.

"Her heart, my Lord, as you requested…" – Zeuro seemed to insist, expecting his master to grab the scepter at any moment, unleashing its powers.

Lord Deimor, however, narrowed his robotic-ish eyes, not convinced by his devoted minion's gift. The dark master was able to sense that magical gem's mighty energy and, for some reason, the Guffin Scepter didn't satisfy his request.

"The Heart of Astria is here… in this dimension…" – he stated, as Zeuro handed the scepter to him. "But it's not in my hands…" – Deimor's deep voice revealed his angered, disappointed mood, just as he calmly crushed the whole scepter in his fist. A purple flame engulfed his crushing hand, completely incinerating Cloro's family heirloom. The green-eyed prince staggered back in denial as the demonic flame erased the scepter from existence.

Star and Marco witnessed the scene from a distance while prince Cloro clenched his teeth in anger; he wasn't really attached to that scepter for its value: it was a gift from his father, a rite of passage, an old tradition that King Tulip really cared for. Meanwhile, Star's wand again flapped its wings unnaturally and emitted a series of tingling sounds, glowing intermittently. It even moved, like it had a mind of its own and almost slipped out of her hands. "What's going on with you now…?" she mumbled, perplexed by her wand's new and unpredictable behavior.

"Master… that's not possible… there's a legend… here on Floria…" – Zeuro felt again insecure in front of his dark lord, stuttering an excuse for his failure. "Legend says that the Guffin Scepter's diamond was once the heart of a magical princess and…" – this seemed to trigger a much more annoyed reaction from his master.  
"Zeuro!" – Deimor roared. "Do I look like a mythological creature to you?" – the self-proclaimed prince kept his mouth shut. "Once again, …don't believe everything you read…".  
"My Lord…" – the green eyed Shadow now spoke carefully. "…but you said that the Heart of Astria was on Floria… you sensed its presence!  _You_  sent us here!"  
"And I'm never wrong, my blind apprentice… In fact, I'm looking at it right now…"

The wings on Star's wand vibrated violently. The princess herself was startled as she saw Lord Deimor's glowing eyes gaze upon her. "Of course…" she thought. Marco did the same, in his usual deadpan tone. "It's always the wand…" – he muttered.

"Princess Star Butterfly…?" – Zeuro asked, somehow surprised.  
"Oh… the caretaker is a princess then… interesting…" – Deimor commented, his spotlight-like eyeballs glued on the blonde girl from Mewni.

The dark lord proceeded to walk towards Star, his armor rumbling at each step, slowly drawing his sword out, the Red Eye, with its blood-colored ruby glowing ominously.

The normally fearless princess felt a shiver down her spine, but she didn't want to give the pleasure of seeing her terrified to their new enemies. As Lord Deimor now towered over her, she clenched her fist around the wand, staring back at those blinding demonic eyes.  
Next to her, Cloro drew his sword out too, his hand shaking. Marco was petrified: Star looked so small and defenseless compared to that horned, walking armor. He kept showing off his kung-fu-ish fighting stance, but his eyes were visibly full of fear.

"Princess Butterfly, I believe you have something that belongs to me…" - Deimor's noble and surprisingly calm tone of voice clashed with his nightmare-inducing appearance and the threat that soon followed. "Hand over the Heart of Astria and I'll let you all live…"

Star took a big breath and looked up to him, firmly holding her wand. "I'm not afraid of you…"

Deimor appeared unperturbed. "You should, princess. And I can see that your much wiser friends are indeed terrified…" – he added, his eyes now inspecting Cloro and Marco.  
The princess gave a quick look to his battle-mates: they were just as scared as her; she was simply better at hiding it. But she knew that they were ready to join her in one last fight, if things were to get worse. They all silently nodded at each other and slowly distanced themselves from their new foe.

"Very well…" – Deimor whispered.

The dark lord swung his majestic sword, producing a series of fireballs that aimed directly for Star and her two friends. The princess quickly cast another shield for all three of them, but it immediately shattered as the fireballs touched it. Marco and Cloro bounced back haplessly while Star once again charged her wand, this time going for an offensive spell. As Deimor walked towards her menacingly, she muttered one of her "narwhal blast" attacks; but as the wand emitted its animal-shaped ray of light, it suddenly moved, causing the spell to completely miss its otherwise easy target.

Deimor stopped for an instant, looking at the narwhal-looking fist flying inches away from his head, but didn't feel threatened. On the contrary, despite the limited facial features of its helmet, a sinister smirk seemed to appear on his helmet.  
He knew exactly what was happening.

Star was dumbfounded. "What's wrong with you?!" – she tried to whisper to her wand, but that sentence came out way louder than expected, revealing her turmoil. The magical artifact vibrated intensely just when Deimor struck his sword almost in front of the princess. She barely dodged the attack as she felt an invisible dark force of some sort strike her entire body. Star fell to the ground, almost losing the wand. This instantly triggered Marco's reaction; ignoring Cloro's attempt at stopping him from doing something crazy, he rushed towards the new enemy and jumped, attempting to land one of his flying kicks on his helmet. Unimpressed, Deimor simply raised his other hand and another invisible force stopped Marco while in mid air. Before he could even realize what happened, he saw Deimor literally throwing him away, using some kind of telekinesis.

"I sincerely admire your determination…" – Lord Deimor's sword started to glow again, producing the same demonic flames that he used to turn the Shadows into the armored, masked minions they were now. "…so I shall grant you all an honorable death…".

As Cloro helped both Star and Marco get up, the Shadows started to surround them, by far completely confident about the situation. The princess held the magic wand close to her chest and noticed how its unnatural movements didn't seem to stop, but she couldn't think of an answer for that, not now at least. Fairytales or not, Lord Deimor was a serious threat, but the wand somehow refused to hurt him. Star quickly thought of a solution, wondering if she ever used a powerful spell that could help them get out of that situation. Deep in her rapid sequence of thoughts, she looked at Marco, like she was expecting him to say something. Her mind automatically pictured the countless times his human friend comically fell victim of her magic wand and its mighty powers… and she promptly remembered one particular "sweet" incantation that was more defensive than offensive, a spell that would hopefully "trick" the wand into doing its job correctly.

Zeuro soon joined the Shadows and laughed in delight over Star's imminent demise. "I'm sorry, princess. But I love the sweet taste of victory…" – he gloated.  
A confident smirk reappeared on Star's face. "Interesting choice of words…" – she said, purposely using the same words that Zeuro said a few minutes earlier.

The star-shaped diamond on the princess' wand glowed and emitted its well-known tingling sound. Star jumped as high as she could and, twirling mid-air, shouted the magic words. "Syrup Tsunami Shockwave!". As Marco heard that familiar spell, he quickly pulled Cloro by his coat collar and both rushed behind one of the flipped tables.

In seconds, the entire place was flooded by an ocean of sweet and sticky syrup. The Shadows gazed haplessly upon that enormous molasses-ish wave of destruction and growled in frustration as it easily swept them away. A disgusted Zeuro met the same fate moments later, more concerned for his valuable hand-sewn coat though.

Upon seeing that impressive, threatening (but otherwise harmless) display of magic, Deimor jabbed his sword into the floor, producing a force field around him, enduring, not without struggle, that syrupy blast.

After one long minute, Star graciously landed in the ground zero of her devastating spell, as the syrup around her already started to dry and quickly disappear. She could hear a series of nauseated grunts and various voices yelling "Disgusting!", "Sticky!" or variations of that. Marco and Cloro cautiously emerged from behind the flipped table they shielded with, unharmed. As the syrup dried out, the sticky ocean also returned the equally sticky Zeuro, completely stunned by what just happened.

In the meantime, Lord Deimor's force field collapsed, revealing his untouched metallic body. His two glowing eyes flickered and his breathing became much more audible, deeper: he was exhausted. Even the supposedly powerful Red Eye gem in his sword cracked, its blood-red light fading out. Despite his conditions, the green-eyed prince noticed his master's difficulties and rushed towards him. "Master, you're not fully powered yet…" – he stuttered. "Until the Dimensional Alignment reaches its climax, you shouldn't waste your powers like this…" – he added, turning to Star and his friends, giving them a disgusted look.

The Shadows slowly joined Zeuro, walking with difficulty as their feet glued to the floor at each step. Weakened, Deimor put his sword back into its sheath and then slipped his huge pair of dimensional scissors out of his belt. He handed them to his loyal apprentice, who proceeded to open a portal to their dimension. The Shadows quietly stumbled through it, moaning quietly, enraging Zeuro, frustrated by this humiliation. As the masked figures disappeared into the magical gate, right before joining them, Lord Deimor turned his attention directly to Star, his eyes glowing wildly now, the voice cracking into something much more demonic-sounding.

"The way you mastered the magic wand is impressive, princess Butterfly…" – he took one more sinister breath. "…but the Heart Astria is something that goes beyond your comprehension…" – he walked through the portal, but his dark figure was still visible, his two eyes gazing through the interdimensional gate. "There's nowhere you can hide. I will find you, Star Butterfly. And I shall take what is  _rightfully mine_ …" – Deimor's last words probably echoed in both dimensions as the portal closed abruptly, leaving the terrace in a ghostly silence.

Star continued to look at the exact spot where the portal was moments before, knowing that all of this was far from being over. Her wand continued to shake intermittently, but as Deimor disappeared, it somehow calmed down.

As the storming Shadows left for good, the terrace was finally reached by a sheer number of Florian royal guards, some of them riding huge bug-looking horses. Marco resisted the urge to sarcastically remark "how late" the guards were, but he felt that it wasn't the right time for his dry sense of humor.

"Who cares about the scepter? I just want to see my son… We'll find who's responsible for this…" – King Tulip stated, with a calm but determined tone of voice, as the guards escorted him to Prince Cloro. The Florian ruler was visibly relieved upon seeing that his only son was alive and well, despite the devastated surroundings. The King then turned to Star and Marco; and thanked them for once again protecting his kingdom.

Moments later, as the blonde-haired princess and her human friend opened a portal back to Earth, Cloro suggested that Star should warn her parents too about the new threat. "We still don't really know what we're up against…"  
"You're right…" – she admitted. "I'll use the magic mirror in my room."  
"Take care, Cloro…" – Marco said, as they shook hands.

The two friends, exhausted, finally jumped through the interdimensional gate, leaving Cloro behind, with Mothy sitting by his side, his owner gently patting her enormous head. As Star and Marco disappeared before his eyes, the Florian prince gave a quick glance to the beautiful night sky above him, just as an unusual series of weak flashes of light brightened it for a moment.

**End of Chapter 9**


	10. Ancient Voices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the middle of the night, as a worried Marco slowly starts to accept his true feelings for his magical best friend, Star meets a legendary ancient princess...

**Chapter 10 – Ancient Voices**

"I told you it wasn't a legend…"

King Butterfly was sitting thoughtful on an armchair, facing the panoramic window in front of him, the faint lights of his kingdom looking more like distant stars. Nova, his wife, has just told him that his fears turned out to be true.

The Queen quietly walked by her husband's side, the night sky outside occasionally flashing weakly due to the upcoming Alignment, the same Alignment that triggered the reveal of these new enemies.  
The same Alignment that was supposed to overlook Star's coronation day.

Her daughter called her in the middle of the night, using the magical mirror technology. The princess told her what happened on Floria, during the Grand Ball, the moment she came back on Earth. As a mother, she immediately noticed how Star was visibly worried this time.

"They know who you are, but not  _where_  you are…" – she reassured. "You'll be safer on Earth…" – but the princess didn't like the idea.  
"But they know who I am, Mom. They're going to find out that I'm from Mewni and…"  
The Queen was impassable. "We can handle a bunch of Shadow-fanatics, Star. As I said, Earth is a safer dimension for you right now…"

And they didn't talk much after that, not even about the upcoming coronation day.

"I told her she has nothing to fear… but she's scared, River…"

The King caressed his long, white beard, wondering how was possible that his remarkably whimsical, brave daughter called in the middle of the night, scared by something, the same daughter who once fought a multi-headed serpent to save her human friend's parents. Knowing that her princess was afraid of those new villains didn't help: the King felt even more responsible, considering that he actually tried to hunt those Shadow-fanatics in the last couple of months, unsuccessfully. The woman noticed his husband's inopportune self-deprecation and gently put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Only the fools are afraid of nothing…" – she whispered as she felt the King's warm hand returning her act of affection.

The two remained silent, overlooking their sleepy Kingdom, with the Alignment occasionally brightening the sky above them, as a reminder for how  _not fool_  they were…

* * *

"Goodnight, Star…"

The princess turned around, returning his smile, just before disappearing behind her bedroom's door. Marco kept looking at that door, the door that led to a room that didn't even exist before Star's arrival; he actually wanted to say a bit more than a mere "Goodnight", but the princess was too tired to even say something and didn't want to bother her.

Almost 2:00 a.m.  
The house was quiet, completely silent, with Mr. Diaz's snoring being the only barely audible noise. The laser-shooting puppies were asleep somewhere downstairs. "Probably on the couch… they'll never learn…" Marco thought, as he headed to his room. His eyes brightened with joy the moment he saw his own bed: fighting monsters with Star is exhausting, but this time was particularly stressful for both of them. The safe-kid collapsed on his bed and untied his  _papillon_ , mindlessly facing the ceiling, probably every teenager's favorite silent interlocutor.

Shadows, ancient demons, fairytale characters coming to life…  
Having Star around was a continuous roller-coaster of emotions and every time he thought that nothing could possibly surprise him, he's spectacularly proven wrong. That Deimor-guy and those masked fanatics sure looked more dangerous than Ludo's monsters, but he didn't really care about them; what he cared for was Star: he was genuinely worried about her now. "First her coronation, now this Astria-thing…". He really wanted to ask her how she was feeling about all of this, if she needed a hand, a moral support; but all the princess apparently wanted as they came back on Earth was her bed, understandably.

Marco kept inspecting his room's ceiling as he finally started to relive what was probably the best part of the Grand Ball of Floria (despite the nightmare-inducing ambush that happened after that). "I'm an idiot…" – he quietly stated, the moment he remembered how amazing dancing with Star was. "I'm such an idiot…" he insisted, but with a silly smile drawn on his face. He had the opportunity to tell her how much she meant to him, how much she changed his life. She was the best thing that ever happened to him and he had to tell her.  
But he didn't. "The safe kid plays it safe once again…" – he stated, rolling his eyes, in his usual sarcastic way. "Well done, Marco Diaz… she's probably going to leave Earth in less than two days and all you say is 'Goodnight'…".

He took a deep breath in frustration, like he was expecting the ceiling to say something helpful when it obviously remained silent. He rolled over, now leaning on his side, and tried to fall asleep, not caring about the fact that he was still wearing his semi-formal clothes and that his mother was probably going to yell at him the next morning for it.

With half of his head buried in the pillow, Marco thought one more time of that moment on Floria, the moment he completely embraced his true feelings for Star, the wacky magical princess from another dimension that changed his life forever.  
And a faint, silly smile once again appeared in his face.

* * *

"Star…. Star Butterfly…"

The soft voice of a woman echoed in the vast nothingness.  
She couldn't see anything, because there was nothing to look at.  
Star's breath sounded unnaturally loud in that place; the princess felt weightless, like floating underwater or in space.

The silence was ear-piercing, but intermittently broken by that mysterious voice.

"Star… I must be released from my prison..."

The blonde princess looked around, confused, but she couldn't see anything. That voice didn't seem to have a particular source: the source was everywhere.

"H-How…?" – she asked. "Who are you? Wh-what do you want from me…?"

The mysterious woman, wherever (and whoever) she was, kept talking with her soft tone of voice. "You know exactly who I am, Star Butterfly….

A series of images flashed quickly in that nothingness.  
Star promptly recognized the pictures as drawings from her favorite fairytale.  
Her own drawings, actually.

She recognized Princess Astria.

"I can now use my powers to hide my location from  _him_ , but it won't stop the Shadows forever… Star, I must be released from my prison…" – the voice insisted.

That situation was surreal. She was talking to her childhood hero.  
The hero from her favorite fairytale.

"Star, I must be released from my prison…"

Astria's voice kept repeating that sentence and each time it felt louder.  
Star covered her ears, but it was no use: Astria was inside her head somehow.

More voices overlapped, saying something intelligible.  
It wasn't just Astria's voice now.  
The princess from Mewni tried to grasp something out of that chaotic discussion: her elusive hero was trying to tell her something, but there were too many voices at once; her ears almost exploded as she heard Astria scream in desperation her lover's name. "Luxor!".

Those were her memories.  
Her real story.

As Luxor's name echoed endlessly in her head, Star felt completely overwhelmed.  
She woke up astonished, in her bedroom, in the middle of night, sweaty, and panting from the effort of waking herself up before her brain melted.  
She calmly appreciated the deep silence of the Diazes' house.

As Star took a big breath, she felt something move in her hands under the sheets.  
It was the wand or, more precisely, the Heart of Astria.

"Weird things happen during the Dimensional Alignment…" – she thought, putting the wand back on the bedside table, hoping that it wouldn't move again on its own.  
On _her_ own, actually.

Was princess Astria's soul trapped in the wand?  
Does this mean that she had to… destroy it?  
Dozen of questions flooded her mind as she remembered that disturbing loud choir of voices. She snuggled back in her bed's sheets and pillows, trying to fall asleep again, just as she heard the wand flap its wings again. Star quietly snorted and turned to the magical object. "I'm putting you in the closet…" – she whispered. But as she laid her fingers on it, more images flashed before her eyes and the voices started again. She even heard Astria's repeating that same sentence over and over in a few seconds. More images flashed in rapid sequence, this time accompanied by what sounded like Lord Deimor's enraged scream; and the Lord's face suddenly appeared in front of her, his two ghostly eyes staring right at her.

Star panicked and threw the wand away from her, ending the trance-like condition.  
The wand bounced on the floor lifelessly and didn't move anymore. The princess curled up in her bed one more time and shut her eyes, using the sheets as some kind of protection against her family heirloom's weird behavior. She eventually fell asleep, but not even her dreams were immune to Astria's enigmatic words.

That was going be a long night.

**End of Chapter 10**


	11. Research

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star and Marco do some research, hoping to find out any kind of useful informations about Astria and Deimor.  
> But things soon turn awkward when they both start to remember what happened back on Floria.

**Chapter 11 - Research**

They underestimated the force of the portal: the whole building was rumbling as the floor cracked dangerously. Despite her efforts to stop him, he succeeded: the Forbidden Dimension was now open and threatening every life form in existence.

Astria was standing right in front of the dark gate, facing the insane man who dared to unleash the chaotic Darkness into the Universe. The horned, armored man she was staring at in disappointment raised his iron-covered hand and demonic figures emerged from the portal, grabbing the blue-haired princess, engulfing her entire body in a bubble of darkness.

The insane man roared in rage as Astria's soul was dragged into the Forbidden Dimension. Her now lifeless body fell down on the floor while the portal went unstable and started to close. The man pointed his sword to the dark gates, but it was too late: he felt an unsettling presence crawling inside his armor; before realizing what it was, a supernatural force pulled him out of his body and the armor itself. He knew there was nothing he could do to fight back; instead, he embraced that terrible fate. The man, or what was left of him, became one with the Darkness.  
Like Astria moments before, he disappeared into the dark world, his screams of pain and madness echoing in both dimensions.  
The gate closed abruptly and a ghostly hush fell over the empty room.

* * *

"And that's pretty much what I saw…"

Star was sitting on the floor, surrounded by books and old documents of all sorts. She spent the whole night with Astria's memories messing her head up and wasn't inclined to do that again. Since it was clear that her favorite bedtime story wasn't a legend at all, she decided to do some research; the moment she woke up, the princess turned her small library upside down, checking every history book she brought on Earth from Mewni. Astria was trying to tell her something and she was going to find out in a way or another.

Luckily, both Star and Marco had no school that morning.  
Apparently, the "food monster" she created the day before came back.  
No one dared to ask for details.

"Are you sure it wasn't just a dream…?" – Marco questioned, sitting in front of his magical friend, browsing a huge book about a war that happened centuries ago in a world whose name was impossible to pronounce.  
"I know what I saw, Marco. And it was real…" – the princess responded, slightly agitated, as she pulled a tall pile of documents next to her.

The boy of course believed her the moment she told him about the visions. She tried to act calm, but after years of adventures together, he was by now able to tell whenever there was (or wasn't) something bothering her. Star needed his help, even though she didn't really ask for it. In any case, she was his best friend and they were a team, so he just couldn't let her deal with all of this alone.

Indeed, Star was glad to have the safe-kid by her side in this situation, but also felt a little guilty since Marco had to ditch his friends Ferguson and Alfonso to help her. "I'm sorry, Marco…" – she sighed. "You wasted an entire school-less morning doing interdimensional homework… and we barely found anything…".  
The boy smiled at her. "Don't worry… we are a team, remember? No matter what happens,  _we're in this together_ …" – he then reached for another boring-looking book and put it on his laps.  
The princess twirled her hair and smiled back at him. "Thanks, Marco…" – her heart-shaped cheeks glowed a bit and she quickly hid her face behind a piece of paper.

A moment of silence soon followed, sometimes interrupted by the sound of the pages turning. The two kept avoiding eye contact now, like they were hiding something. They couldn't ignore what happened on Floria forever, Shadows or not. The words on the book Star was reading gradually lost any meaning when the memories of how good she felt with Marco diminished her attention span. She hated being distracted by this stuff, but that didn't stop the huge, metaphorical elephant in the room from stomping around anyway.  
She was finally going to speak, but he beat her to it.

"Star… about what happened yesterday… on Floria…" – Marco broke the silence, eyes glued on the book, distractingly turning its pages. "You know… the dance…".  
"Oh… of course…" – she chuckled a bit, trying to sound as calm as possible, but the gleaming heart-shaped cheeks told a different story.  
"There's… there's something you should know… something that I've always wanted to tell you actually…" – the safe-kid looked up to her and let out a nervous cackle. "Sorry… it's just… I really don't know how to say this…".

The princess gave her friend a puzzled, yet amused look. She instinctively covered her cheeks with her hands, hiding her blushing hearts from Marco, who probably was too nervous to notice them though.

"I…" – he stuttered. "I… I think you're a great dancer…"  
Star blinked a couple of times, perplexed by her friend's compliment. "Oh… thanks…" – she replied, with a faint smile, turning her attention to another pile of documents.  
"Yep. That's all…" – Marco snickered uncomfortably and lowered his eyes to the book sitting on his laps. "That's. All." – he insisted, spelling both words in a desperate attempt to convince himself that there really was nothing else to say.

He felt so stupid in that moment; he only wanted to bury his face in his red hoodie for the rest of the day. Luckily, Star had no clue of what he was really going to say.  
Or so he thought.

The odds of living through yet another awkward silence decreased dramatically as Mr. Diaz, from downstairs, excitedly announced his new culinary creation. "Lunch is ready! And I made some awesome  _empanadas_!".

" _Empa_ -what…? Doesn't matter, sounds delicious…" – the princess got back on her feet and shook the papers off of her. "Food is so much better than all of this…".

As Star approached to her room's door, Marco heard a weird buzzing sound coming from his friend's back. An unusual, yet familiar noise.

"Whoa. Star! You got something on your… not that I was looking or anything…" – he said, looking away, pretending to check the papers under his shoes.  
The princess turned to him, lifting her hair up. "Aw… just my  _mewberty wings_. They need to catch some air once in a while…" – she scoffed. "But it's not like I can fly or anything…"  
"Well… why fly when you have a magic wand, right…?" – he chuckled. He then realized that something was missing from that quiet morning. "Star, where's your wand?".  
"It's… somewhere in the room I guess. Let's go eat something. Come on!" – avoiding the subject with grace, she took her friend's hand and both rushed downstairs, greeted by the beautiful scent of Mr. Diaz's cooking abilities.

Back in the now empty Mewni-styled bedroom, the nightstand beside Star's bed vibrated violently and its drawer opened abruptly. The magic wand jumped out of it, bouncing several times on the paper-covered floor, emitting alarming sounds, distressingly flapping  _her_  tiny wings.

Something happened.  
But not on Earth.

**End of Chapter 11**


	12. Something Dark This Way Comes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Shadows attack the royal palace, but they apparently don't know in what dimension Star Butterfly is hiding.   
> But as the Queen confronts Lord Deimor, it's already too late...

**Chapter 12 – Something Dark This Way Comes**

The normally crowded throne room was deserted, her footsteps echoing through the unnatural silence of the palace. Queen Butterfly spent most of the morning pursuing her typical royal obligations, making sure that life on Mewni continued normally and that nothing suspicious was going on. Her kingdom was a weird, eccentric and sometimes even dangerous place, so she had to be very watchful to recognize an actual threat when necessary; however, nothing made her think of a conspiracy or an imminent attack from the Shadows.

She was now walking alone, surrounded by the dense silence of the palace's long hallways. The Queen noticed the unusual absence of the royal guards, even though she directly ordered them to patrol the entire building the night before, right after Star's sudden distress call. She kept walking, slightly speeding up the pace. "Where's everyone?" - she muttered. The silence felt oppressive. She finally heard a voice from around the hallway's corner, saying something unintelligible. "Guards!" – no response, her words still echoed like she was standing in an empty cathedral nave. As she got closer to the corner, she noticed how messy the place was. There were deep, beast-like scratches on the walls; some windows were either wide open or in pieces, their broken glass scattered all over the floor, cracking under the Queen's shoes.

And then she saw them.  
Right behind the corner, dozen of guards lying on the floor, moaning in pain, all bruised and beaten up. They barely noticed the Queen's presence, for the first time in her life completely speechless and disoriented.

"Your Majesty!" - a breathy voice caught Nova's attention as a guard slowly limped towards her. "They're… they're here…" – he stuttered, now leaning on the wall, holding his wounded arm. The Queen didn't know how to respond to that statement.

A patrolling royal guard stumbled upon the scene and froze startled upon seeing his comrades' conditions. "You! Call for help!" – Nova ordered. The man instantly obeyed and ran through the long hallway, disappearing behind a door; a group of helpful servants soon showed up.

"Luckily, most of these wounds are superficial. Nothing to worry about… We can handle this, Your Highness…" – a young woman reassured. "The King desires to see you urgently though… he seemed very nervous this morning…" - and they all knew why by now.

Nova knew her husband too well: she knew where to find him.  
Whenever he was nervous about something, the King was used to rest on his favorite armchair, silently overlooking the Kingdom through the panoramic windows placed in front of it. That's probably how he spent the whole night, right after the Queen told him about their daughter's encounter with the Shadows. "He's getting old…" Nova realized, while opening the tall, wooden door leading to the room where the King was.  
The moment she stepped in, she felt an unfamiliar presence.

The room was dimly lit, all the drapes closed. She noticed her husband's throne-like armchair, facing the windows; her eyes were still adjusting to the change in lighting, so she couldn't tell if someone was sitting on it. "River…?" – she called his name, almost whispering.  
The door suddenly shut behind her and the sinister, towering figure that slowly got up and revealed itself was definitely not the King.

"Greetings, Queen Butterfly…"

The first thing she saw were his glowing, spotlight-like eyes staring at her. She then noticed the spikes, the horns and the overall armored appearance of her strange interlocutor.

"I sincerely apologize for the behavior of my servants…" – he spoke calmly, as a group of masked figures revealed themselves. "They're just really… excited to be here…".  
Nova remained unperturbed, showing no visible sign of fear or anxiety. "You can keep your apologies. I know who you are…" – she said, staring at his ghostly eyes. "And I know why you're here… Lord Deimor…" – she took a couple of steps towards the Shadows, eyes glued on their leader. "You're wasting your time… I'll  _never_  tell you where she is…" – the Queen hissed, clenching her teeth.

Nova's determined statement was met with silence, followed by the Shadows snickering in the background. "I believe you…" – Lord Deimor replied. "But I'm afraid we already have all the information we need…"

The Lord raised his right hand, glowing due to some kind of dark force. As he made a slight gesture, something descended from the ceiling shrouded in darkness. The Queen couldn't keep her emotions hidden anymore the moment she realized that the figure floating above them was her unconscious husband; he looked like some kind of puppet with no strings, his eyes glowing like the dark lord's. Deimor then snapped his fingers, ending his dark influence on the King; Mewni's gravity did the rest. The Queen fell on her knees next to her husband's body, whose eyes were now normal. And teary. "I'm sorry… It's all my fault…" – he wept, stuttering, as he felt his wife's hands caressing his beard and bruised face.  
"Even the strongest of minds is vulnerable while sleeping…" – Lord Deimor stated, probably explaining how his spell worked.

The Queen had eyes only for his husband, who was on the brink of blacking out. " _Sleeping…_ " – she repeated, with a disgusted sneer on her face. "I guess this also makes you a coward…"  
Deimor didn't seem bothered by Nova's sharp remark. "You're right, Your Majesty, that wasn't very honorable of me. But I have a very serious schedule to follow…"

The Lord walked towards the closed drapes, like he was able to see through them. "The Dimensional Alignment has begun, Your Highness. The people of this Kingdom will soon have the honor of being the first witnesses to the birth of a new Universe…" – he turned back to her, his voice turning slightly more demonic-sounding. "…and the destruction of the old one…".

The Queen wasn't really paying attention to Deimor's speech: she held the King's hands as he obsessively kept blaming himself. "It's all my fault… I couldn't protect her…".

"Zeuro!" – the Lord suddenly shouted. The young, green-eyed man quickly revealed himself among the masked Shadows; he cautiously stepped in front of Deimor and bowed to him in sign of respect. "Now that we know where Princess Butterfly is… I think it's time for you to take a visit to this  _Earth_  Dimension…" – the dark lord stated.  
The self-proclaimed prince looked up to him and grinned maliciously.

As her husband passed out, finally finding a temporary moment of peace, Nova calmly stood up on her feet, assuming her usual dignified posture. Despite the remarkable height difference, the impassive woman seemingly towered even over the horned lord.

"Your filthy Shadows will be no match for my daughter…" – she warned, staring into his glowing, undead-like eyes.  
Deimor lowered himself, staring back at her. "I agree…" – he surprisingly admitted, as Zeuro gasped quietly in the background. "I saw what the princess is capable of… and I'm sincerely impressed… but you see…". The Lord's cold, metallic fingers brushed against the Queen's hair, taking her crown off her head. "You underestimate how much a daughter loves her parents…" – the crown caught fire in Deimor's hand, the purple flames slowly morphing it into something almost unrecognizable.  
"What can you possibly know about…  _love_?" – she hissed.  
The dark lord breathed deeply, like he was relieving some distant, painful memories. "I know that love makes you take… irrational decisions…"

Deimor turned to Zeuro and handed the burned royal pendant to him, scorching his apprentice's fingers, who suffered in silence.

Deprived of her crown, but not of her dignity, Nova proudly kept her somber stance. "You were defeated once… you will be again. There won't be an happy ending for you…" – she remarked.  
The horned armor narrowed his robotic-ish eyes. "Don't believe everything you read, Your Highness… I was not defeated…" – his voice again sounded more unsettling than usual.

"I was _betrayed_ …"

**End of Chapter 12**


	13. The Boy Who Fell In Love With a Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco is trying to muster all the courage he has to finally confess his real feelings to Star, but he doesn't feel worthy enough for her love; luckily, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz seem to know exactly what to say.   
> Meanwhile, Star confronts Astria one more time and finally learns the truth behind her favorite fairytale.  
> And also that Lord Deimor may not be what he seems...

**Chapter 13 – The Boy Who Fell In Love With A Princess**

Marco felt his phone vibrate one more time on his chest.  
He was lying on his bed, looking more like a lifeless corpse, blankly staring at the ceiling; the boy checked his messages, but he knew who it was.

"Dude, stop moping around. We're coming…"

Ferguson and Alfonso were his  _bros_ , always ready to cheer him up when necessary. He simply replied with a short "k, thanks" and was glad that his friends were coming over, hopefully not with their annoying "We told you so…" attitude, since he never admitted that he had feelings for Star in front of them, despite how much they teased him about it. "They were right all along and will never let me live it down…" he realized.

He didn't talk much to her after lunch: she said something about being tired and spent the entire evening in her bedroom, probably drowning her thoughts into more books and documents of all sorts, looking for an answer, something regarding Astria's words or intentions. Marco didn't want to bother her as she seemed unusually distant and opted to leave her alone for a while.

But he still couldn't stop thinking how much he wanted to finally tell her the truth, without being interrupted by an ambush or by his tendency to look like a stuttering idiot. The boy grabbed his bed's pillow and covered his face with it, groaning in frustration, just as he heard somebody knock on his door. "Come in…" – he scoffed.

"Just wanted to let you know that my latest picture just reached two hundred likes on Foodgram…" – Marco's father proudly announced, holding his smartphone, as he opened the door. "The tag #DailyDiazDishes is a success!"

Mr. Diaz waited for a response, a reaction, but he only heard a grunt-like noise coming from under the pillow that was covering his son's face. "Is there something wrong…?" – he asked, but he didn't need to: Marco's "symptoms" were clear to him. He heard a series of growls that sounded like an annoyed "I'm fine…" and stepped towards the boy's bed. He patted his son's shoulder who reluctantly got up and moved, letting his father sit next to him.

"Want to talk about it…?" – he asked, his typical reassuring grin still drawn on his face.  
Marco's gaze traveled around the room. "It's just…" – he finally answered; he smiled and shook his head. "You wouldn't understand…"  
"Of course…" – the dad replied, with a smirk. He waited for his son to say something else at first, but Marco remained silent, his eyes glued on the floor. "Have you told her yet…?"

The strikingly precise question caught the boy off-guard and coughed nervously. Mr. Diaz chuckled light-heartedly and again patted his son's shoulder.

"Well… your mom and I knew this was going to happen eventually…" – the father said. "We saw the way you two look at each other…".  
Much to Marco's chagrin, both parents were apparently aware of what was going on. "What… I… I have no idea of what you're talking about… – the boy stuttered.  
The father chuckled a bit more. "Don't lie to your  _papà_ , Marco. We've all been teenagers... I remember like it was yesterday…" – the safe kid wanted to hide his face in his red hoodie: hearing his dad's "memories" was usually an unsettling experience. "Everything was weird, ugly, sweaty. I remember the hormones suddenly kicking in and… whoa! Your mother was there, in my high school and I thought: 'I have to ask her out!' but I was too scared! But I had to talk to her, she was so gorgeous, so  _preciosa_ …".

That was nothing too explicit so far, but Marco knew his father: the story was going to get more… "suggestive" and he wasn't really interested into hearing an uncomfortably accurate description of her mother's body. "Dad… this is getting awkward…"

Mr. Diaz kept talking, remembering the good old days and, predictably, his memories became remarkably "colorful". Fortunately, a woman's voice interrupted him, something that Marco greatly appreciated. "What your father is trying to say…" – Mrs. Diaz walked in, sporting an amused look, and sat next to her son, caressing his brown hair. "…is that if you really like Star, you should tell her how you feel…".

Marco took a deep breath and nodded, but he was far from being convinced. "I tried but… she's a princess and I'm just… I mean what if she doesn't… ugh… I don't know…"  
"Exactly!" – the boy's mom uttered. "You don't know!"  
"And you never will if you don't tell her the truth…" – Mr. Diaz added.

The boy fiddled with his hoodie's zipper a bit, a quirky habit that confirmed how stressed he was about the situation. "What if I… ruin everything? What if I confess that I'm in love with her and she doesn't feel the same?" – Marco looked up to his parents, looking for an answer.  
"What if she does…?" – Mr. Diaz calmly replied.  
"You'll never know if you don't tell her…" – his mother intervened. " _Love is taking risks_ , Marco…" – she spoke softly, knowing that her son's feelings were genuine, sincere.

Mrs. Diaz kissed him on the cheek and hugged him. "My sweet potato is in love…" – she whispered. The kid rolled his eyes, annoyed, but still chuckled a bit. The two parents got up and left the room; before leaving, however, Mr. Diaz turned back to Marco, with an encouraging look. "In the end, the decision is up to you, son. Your mother is right: love is full of risks. And if you really love Star, you should take them all,  _safe-kid_..." – he winked at him and smiled, before disappearing behind the door.

Marco was again alone with his doubts, but he found his parents' words surprisingly reassuring. "I'm tired of playing it safe…" he thought. The boy had to tell her the truth, tell her how important she truly was to him.  
He finally felt a boost of confidence: he was ready.

* * *

The amount of effort that Star put in her research was impressive. The princess could barely walk properly due to the carpet-like layer of sheets of paper and books scattered all around her bedroom. She spent the entire afternoon looking for answers or any kind of historical information on Astria and her actual life, but there were no results. She lost the track of time, her room now lit by the warm light of the dusk.

She couldn't really focus most of the time anyway: the wand's weird behavior kept distracting her. Star tried to lock it everywhere, in a box, in a drawer, but it always found a way out, like it was desperately trying to get the princess' attention. Truth is, Star didn't want Astria to mess with her head. It was a weird, unsettling experience last time it happened.

The wand again emitted its tingling sounds, being more annoying than disturbing. Star closed in frustration the Mewninan history book she was reading and angrily stepped towards the wand, which was laying on her bed, regularly flapping its wings.

"Please, stop…" – she whispered, as the magical artifact continued moving and shaking.  
But she knew that the only way to make it stop was to relive that ominous trance-like state, let Astria herself tell everything she needed to know about Deimor's apocalyptic scheme and, hopefully, a way to thwart his plans.

Before being the peephole into our world for the ancient princess, the magic wand was a gift from her mother and a big responsibility. Star was its caretaker, a guardian, the only thing standing between this immense amount of power and the evil forces bent on using it for their own evil purposes. It was her duty to take care of the wand, no matter how difficult or dangerous it was.

"Alright, Astria…" – her hand slowly reaching for the family heirloom, cautiously laying her fingers on it. "Let's do this…"

The moment she wrapped her hand around it, Star's bedroom flashed for a few moments and then disappeared. The princess felt a sudden, unknown force pulling her in an indefinite direction. She heard a series of unintelligible voices and couldn't understand what they were saying. Unlike last time, Star tried to endure the chaotic disorder of Astria's memories flooding her mind; she closed her eyes, holding the wand tightly. When she opened them, all went silent.  
And all was different.

She found herself in a bucolic landscape and a soft wind blew through her hair. The hills around her were green and covered with colorful flowers and bushes. Overlooking the scene, two bright Sun-like stars shining in the blue, cloudless sky.

"What is this place…?"

It was like living through a dream.  
For a moment, Star thought she was the only one there, until two figures sitting on the grass caught her attention; she heard them laugh and talk to each other. The princess carefully walked towards them from behind, but she was pretty sure they were not able to see her anyway. They were a girl and a boy, probably around Star's age.

"I felt so good here with you, Luxor…"

The prince caressed Astria's blue hair, his purple eyes gleaming with sincere admiration.  
Star was witnessing the love story she basically grew up with.

"You don't have to leave…" – he replied, speaking softly.  
"I have to…" – she stated. "There are so many Dimensions I have yet to visit… so many friends that need my help…" – she put her hands on his cheeks. "You knew I couldn't stay forever…"

Luxor gently moved her hands away from his face and calmly stared at the fields around them for a moment, deep in his thoughts, but ready to take the ultimate decision.

"I'll come with you then…"  
"I'm afraid this is not possible, my love…"  
"There must be a way…"

The last sentence echoed unnaturally as the entire place seemed to collapse. Star was being pulled in a different memory, like she was watching a movie while regularly skipping its unimportant parts. She soon found herself standing on a beautiful moonlit balcony adorned with different kinds of plants and statues. Astria and Luxor were not far from her.

"Do you really love me, my prince?" – she asked, hands covering her own chest.  
Luxor seemed surprised by the question. "Of course… more than anything… you're my princess…"  
"Then let your love guide you through the Universe…"

As their lips met, Astria's body seemed to shine. The kiss was visibly passionate, an act of true love. A shining sphere of pure light appeared between them as their lips separated. The prince stepped back and the magical orb gently landed on the princess' hands. The sphere was actually a glowing, heart-shaped crystal. "The Heart of Astria" – Star whispered.

"My heart belongs to you, Luxor… literally..." – she said as she handed the mysterious gem to the prince. "Here… take it. It will guide through the…" – but as the boy touched the crystal, a strong force pushed him away with violence.

"No man or woman was able to handle its power…"

Star jumped in fear and almost let out a high-pitched scream as an older, ghost-like, present-day Astria appeared right next to her. "You're here… you're the real one…". The ancient princess simply nodded and the scenery once again changed abruptly.

"In order to contain it, we built a magic wand around it, the same magic wand you're holding now, Star Butterfly…" – upon hearing that, the princess inspected her mother's gift, slowly processing the information.

"But using its magic, we created something more… accessible: the Dimensional Scissors. This way, Luxor was able to find me wherever I was…."

A series of scenes with Astria and Luxor visiting different dimensions flashed in front of Star. She saw how happy they were, how in love they looked and how love itself made all of that possible; but an angry crowd shouting insults interrupted the peaceful moment.

"Witch! You monster!"  
"She's not normal!"  
"That's not natural!"

Star didn't even need to ask what was happening as the answer was clear: not everyone was open-minded enough to accept Astria's magical nature; those were different times. In that particular memory, Luxor's normally love-filled eyes were this time burning with rage and anger.

"That's the Universe you swore to protect?!" – the prince was enraged. The scene was now taking place in a fireplace-lit room and probably happened years later the creation of the crystal as the two lovers looked in their early twenties. "They called you a witch…"  
"The Universe is a complex entity that needs to be protected, Luxor…" – she responded, with a calm, dignified tone of voice. The prince wasn't convinced and she continued to talk. "Which is why I need to talk to your brother…"

Luxor shook his head, confused by the princess' request. "What…? Deimor? He's doing nothing wrong…" – but he knew that wasn't true.  
"Nothing wrong…?" – Astria repeated, for the first time losing her calm. "He's using the Dimensional Scissors to spread war across the entire Universe!" – she said.

The purple-haired prince tried to think of an excuse for his older brother's actions, the man he was devoted to. Lord Deimor always acted more like a general than a prince: he was known for his iron hand in dealing with the supposed enemies of his Kingdom; the advent of dimension-travel fueled his desire for power.

"Astria… sometimes a war prevents more suffering than it causes…" – he explained.  
Now it was the princess' turn to be enraged. "War brings war. And war brings death. Don't act like you don't know it…" – she walked towards him and spoke more calmly. "This is wrong, Luxor…" – she said, her voice now almost broken by tears.  
"I'll… I'll talk to him…" – he replied. "Anything for you…"

"But he never did…" – the present-day Astria whispered, sounding as broken as her past-self.  
"What…? What happened…?" – Star asked, looking at her, fearing the answer.  
"War brings war…" – the reality around them shattered one more time and an image of Luxor's Kingdom in flames took its place, with spaceship-like machines bombing the royal palace and the city around it. They could hear the people screaming in pain and agony, the fire devouring everything on its path. "And war brings death…"

Star turned her head and realized that the scenery changed again. Her eyes went teary, probably due to her temporary emotional link with the older princess, as she heard the crowd mourning and sobbing around her. She was now standing in a central-planned temple, with Astria and Luxor hugging next to her, the princess gently caressing his hair in an attempt to comfort him.  
It was a funeral.

"You were right, Astria… you were right all along…" – he muttered, choking his tears back. "I swear… I won't let this happen again…"

The prince was hugging her like she was the only family he had left.  
But not everyone was as glad as him for her presence. "What is that witch doing here?!"- somebody uttered, sparking turmoil among the people in the temple. Astria was soon covered by insults and even blamed for Deimor's death. Luxor called the guards and they both were escorted back in the heavily damaged, but still safer royal palace.

"This was the beginning of the end…" - reliving those memories was very painful for the present-day Astria. "Luxor was devastated by the loss, his grief slowly turning into anger, pure hatred for everything that was outside of the palace, even for his own Kingdom…"

The ancient princess waved her hand and the reality flashed into yet another series of images, this time depicting Luxor obsessing over a thing called "The Dimensional Alignment", his voice turning deeper and more unsettling each time he spoke.

"I won't let this happen again, Astria… this Universe is not worthy of your generosity… not anymore…" – the prince's mental health was visibly deteriorating, his skin was pale and the baggy eyes revealed how little sleep he was getting. "With your powers… we can finally unleash the mighty forces of this place…".

He quickly grabbed an old piece of paper and showed it to his blue-haired princess, who staggered back in disgust the moment she realized what it was.

"How dare you ask me to do something this… horrifying…" – the woman looked at him like she saw a monster. "It's called Forbidden Dimension for a reason, Luxor…"  
"Don't you see, Astria…?"

As his patience seemed to wear thin, the prince started to assemble a bulky armor on his body, like he was preparing for something.

"What are you doing with your brother's armor…?"  
"The right thing to do, my princess…" – he said, while slipping a pair of iron gloves on his hands. "Deimor's methods were debatable, but he was right about one thing: the Universe is a wretched hive of lies and villainy..." – he then reached for a huge horned helmet and cautiously put it on his head. "The Dimensional Alignment blessed us with the opportunity of putting an end to this corrupted reality… and creating a new one… just for us…"

Astria shook her head in disbelief; the man in front of him was a stranger, not the prince she fell in love with. "You can't be serious, Luxor. This is an extermination!"  
"This ungrateful Universe is too dangerous for you, my love…" – his calm voice echoing in the helmet, sounding deeper and more sinister. "It killed my only brother, Astria…"  
But the ancient princess didn't feel any compassion for Deimor. "The Universe didn't kill your brother, Luxor. He died because he was a monster with an insane thirst for power!"

He felt that last sentence like a knife piercing his heart.  
The princess kept looking at him, with no signs of remorse and, disgusted by his evil desires of destruction.

"I… I thought you were my princess…" – he muttered, the tone of his voice revealing how painfully true Astria's words were.

Everything flashed again and Star found herself in a familiar scene, a vision she already experienced the night before.  
But everything made more sense this time.

The now armored prince was holding a huge sword with a heart-shaped gem embedded between its crossguards; Star recognized it as the magic wand, which apparently changed its appearance into something more malevolent-looking the moment Luxor managed to handle its power.

"You can't stop me, Astria. My new Universe will soon rise, with or without you…" – Luxor shouted, the eyes of his brother's armor glowing menacingly.

The blue-haired woman was standing in front of the man she once loved, facing away from the portal behind her, the gates of the Forbidden Dimension, as shadow-looking entities slowly emerging from it.

"You're right, Luxor. I can't stop you…" – she admitted. Her whole body started to glow, the sudden brightness drawing the attention of the shade demons around her. "But I can make you choose…"

The princess let the creatures take her. "Astria! Stop!" – the prince roared.  
She was soon engulfed in what seemed like a thick cloud of pure darkness. "Choose wisely, Luxor…" - she said, remaining unnaturally calm as the dark forces drained her light away.

The only way to save her was to close the gates, sealing the darkness back into its unreachable dimension. Luxor felt his sword-wielding hand shake as more shade-figures reached his world. The insane desire of destroying the Universe turned out to be meaningless now that he was witnessing his princess' sacrifice. He saw her lifeless body fall to the floor as her soul was being dragged into the portal, her ghostly eyes shedding a single tear right before disappearing inside the Forbidden Dimension.

Luxor screamed in madness and pointed the sword to the gates: the portal went unstable and started to close abruptly. This decision enraged the demons, who immediately attacked him. Ignoring his defenses, the monsters pulled him out of his armor and, like Astria moments before, he was dragged into the portal. Luxor didn't even fight back and instead embraced his destiny, somehow becoming one with the figures who kidnapped him. He kept screaming in agony, madness, rage, his voice echoing in both dimensions as the dark world completely absorbed him and the portal finally closed.

It all went pitch black and Star felt weightless, like floating around into an empty space. She looked at her wand, realizing how dangerous it truly was. "It was Luxor all along… he's doing this for you… isn't he?" – she asked, without even seeing the woman she was talking to, but she knew Astria was there with her.

"In his own, twisted way… he still loves me…" – Astria appeared behind her, speaking calmly, despite everything she went through. "We must put an end to his schemes, Star Butterfly. The Dimensional Alignment has begun…"  
"How?!" – she asked, with impatience.  
"Star…" – Astria replied, her voice getting louder. "… I must be released from my prison…"

* * *

"Alright, Star…" – Marco took a deep breath, trying to focus on his speech. "You know… we've been friends since… well, a lot of time actually…" – he chuckled nervously but kept going. "You changed my life forever and… I just wanted to let you know that I… I feel something between us… what about you…?"

The boy remained silent for a few seconds and then turned to his listeners. "So, was that good…?". The puppies responded with their usual obsessive tail-wagging and a couple of laser beams; some of them barked for no apparent reason while others were too busy chasing their tails. Marco wasn't impressed. "Well, that was helpful…" – he commented, sarcastically.

The safe-kid realized that it was finally time to tell Star the truth about his feelings; he even talked to his parents about it. He stayed in his room, practicing a speech, looking for the right words to say, hopefully without ending up looking like a stuttering moron in front of her.

Marco finally left his bedroom and walked towards Star's, the puppies trotting right behind him. "Ok, you can do this…" he thought, now that only a wooden door was standing between him and the princess. He knocked and waited for an answer, but all he heard was silence. "Star? Are you in there…?" – he asked as he knocked one more time, but nothing happened.

The tiny dogs growled a bit, making the boy suspicious about what was happening in the strangely silent Mewni-styled bedroom. He ignored any form of good manners and abruptly opened the door, expecting the worst.

"Star?!" – he shrieked, the moment he saw her. The puppies barked loudly.

She was standing in the middle of the room, firmly holding her wand, facing Marco; but she didn't see him. The princess' eyes were all white; she was there physically, but not mentally. Star was in a trance-like state, the wand emitting a continuous buzzing sound.

The boy again shouted her name and as he rushed towards her, Star somehow lost her balance. With her eyes shut, she fell like a lifeless body right in Marco's arms. "Star?!" – he insisted. While holding her, he noticed how cold she was and imagined the worst possible scenario.

Star finally opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Marco's face right in front of her. She seemed to panic for a moment and pushed him away. They were both sitting on the floor now, still covered with books and papers for their previous (unsuccessful) researches.

"Star… are you OK? I thought you were…" – the kid slowly got up and helped Star do the same.  
"Marco… you won't believe what I just saw…" – she whispered, ignoring the boy's questions.  
He chuckled a bit, reassured by how Star was already as lively as usual. "I'm talking to a magical princess… I'm pretty open minded… I think I'll believe you…".

She was going to tell him everything, but the puppies' growling caught her attention. "What is it…? Did you see something…?" – Marco asked, looking at an indefinite point in Star's room. They heard a series of unusual noises coming from downstairs, the sound of plates breaking and Mr. Diaz shouting an insult in his mother language.

"No time to explain, Marco. They're here…"

They both dropped into a fighting stance as a tall, thin, green-eyed figure appeared by the door, menacingly holding a stunstick-like weapon, with a sinister smirk drawn on his face.

"Good evening, Princess Butterfly…" - Zeuro said, his grin turning creepier. "Lord Deimor is waiting for you…"

**End of Chapter 13**


	14. Diaz House Showdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all becomes personal when the Shadows attack the Diaz Family, storming the entire house.  
> Star and Marco fight Zeuro one more time, but as the self-proclaimed dark prince reveals that Mewni has fallen, the princess realizes that she has to make a choice...

**Chapter 14 – Diaz House Showdown**

"Not again…" was the first thing they thought when Zeuro showed up: the Shadows apparently had this annoying penchant for ambushes and always seemed to attack at the most inappropriate times. Spinning his electric truncheon, the self-proclaimed "prince of Darkness" looked quite confident, his ghostly green-eyes glued on Star.

"Come with us, princess. My Master hates to wait…" – he slowly walked towards the two teenagers, without losing his smirk. "My  _besties_  downstairs won't stop messing around with this loser's parents until you surrender, so…"

Marco ignored the insult and again heard his parents' voices, followed by a series of alarming crushing sounds. The puppies growled and rushed out of the room, nervously barking and firing their laser beams. Star's wand started to glow as she pointed it to the shadowy intruder. Zeuro wasn't impressed and snickered in response.

"You want another dance…?" – he said, his weapon activating.  
"Let me lead this one…" – Star replied, her wand emitting some tingling sounds.

She jumped back and fired a rainbow-fist spell to him. The dark prince dodged the attack and focused on Marco first, his stun-stick flickering alarmingly; the safe-kid quickly reached for something to use as a shield. "Cute Plushie Blast!" – he shouted, imitating his royal friend's spells, as he threw one of Star's stuffed animals to Zeuro. The shadow leader warded it off with his other hand and snickered darkly as he sprinted towards the princess. Star didn't move and fired another colorful spell, apparently missing the target again.

"Looks like your aim is getting worse, Princess…" - he claimed.  
She responded with a smirk. "I don't think so…"

Zeuro's smug smile slowly faded as he felt a big, disturbing presence behind him. He turned around and couldn't even react as Star's stuffed animal, now magically alive and much bigger, spread his enormous arms open. "Huuuuugs!" – it said, with the deepest voice he ever heard. The creature let itself fall with all of its weight on the green-eyed prince, crushing him under a destructive act of affection.

Star and Marco could hear Zeuro's muffled screams. "Ah! It's so soft! It hurts! Just wait until I get out of here…" – but they didn't have time for his threats.

The two friends rushed downstairs, still hearing the sounds of the Shadows storming the house. As they reached the living room, now looking more like a messy battlefield, Star casted a series narwhal-blasts and hit a couple of henchmen directly in their faces, cracking their skull-shaped masks. Marco literally flew through the room, roundhouse-kicking the unfortunate mooks who dared to threaten his family.

"Mom! Dad!" – he shouted, fending off the Shadow's stun-sticks, until he finally saw them.

The two parents were actually fine: they were fighting just as much as him and Star. Mr. Diaz's weapon was, fittingly enough, a frying pan, which proved to be remarkably effective. Marco's mother was instead using her bare hands, much to her son surprise. "I guess it runs in the family…" he thought, as Mrs. Diaz knocked down a Shadow with a single punch.

The puppies soon joined the brawl, firing their lasers in various directions, making sure their human-friends were not caught in the crossfire. Mrs. Diaz quickly grabbed one of the small dogs and pointed it to the masked enemies.

"We have laser puppies! And we're not afraid to use them…" – she stated.

A bunch of Shadows was directly hit by a series of laser beams. "They're so cute! It hurts!".  
Other henchmen rushed towards Star, charging their stun-sticks; the blonde princess quickly cast a shield around her, making her aggressors bounce away and crush through a window to the front yard. Unbeknown to her, she almost indirectly hit two friends with that last move.

Alfonso and Ferguson, the latter wearing his much-bragged-about opossum costume, were standing in front of the Diaz house, startled, just as two shadowy figures landed at their feet. They soon caught a glimpse of the battle ensuing inside the house, seeing Star and Marco fighting against some kind of enemies (as usual), this time joined by their friend's parents.

"I can't believe they're attacking Marco's family!" – Ferguson shouted.  
"I can't believe you're still wearing that costume!" – Alfonso added, much to his friend's annoyance.  
"I told you! I have to practice my…"

But a critter-infested blast flying past them, definitely created by Star's wand, interrupted their ill-timed quarrel. "We have to do something!" – Ferg stated, as the two ran towards the house as more different-colored magic beams were shot in different directions.

Mr. Diaz was surrounded by Zeuro's henchmen, the puppy he was holding as a weapon now tired and only growling aggressively at their enemies. Star tried to cast one more spell, but another Shadow attacked her from behind; Marco was in a similar situation, too busy kicking and punching the masked minions around him, with her mother helping. "Dad!" – he called, as the Shadows around his father raised their weapons. They all expected the worst, until an animal-like figure joined the fight.

"Ferguson?!" – the safe-kid recognized one of his best friends under that hideous costume. "What are you…?!" – but before he could ask any question, it happened.

Ferguson grabbed his costume's tail and used it as an extension of his arm. "Prehensile tail!" – he shouted, as it wrapped around one of the Shadows attacking Marco's father like a snake of some sort. He then pulled, making the unlucky henchman lose balance and also disarming him, surprising the other masked figures in the room and literally saving Mr. Diaz's life. Both Star and Marco were speechless.

"I did it! And I didn't even need your magic to do it! I don't need the wand to be awesome!" – he exulted, turning to the princess. "No offense, of course…" – he then added, noticing her stunned look.

"Ferguson, that was awesome!" – Marco commented, enthusiastically.

Taking advantage of the Shadow's confusion, Star resumed the fight, but not before smiling to opossum-friend. "None taken…" – she said, as she jumped on the couch, shouting a spell while in mid air, spawning a rainbow as big as the entire room.  
"It is a colorful attack…" – one of the Shadows noted, mocking her.  
"Wait for it…" – she replied, casting a bubble shield spell for her and her friends.

Predictably, the rainbow caught fire and suddenly erupted a rain of fireballs, completely overwhelming the masked mooks, soon defeated one by one by the "colorful" and destructive attack. Once she was sure that there were no Shadows able to fight left, Star casted a water-type incantation to extinguish the fire that almost devoured the entire place, also making the rainbow disappear. The room would have been silent if it wasn't for the continuous groaning of the defeated henchmen, all lying on the floor, barely moving.

"Yeah! Take that you turds!" – Marco exulted, high-fiving his royal friend.  
"Marco Diaz!" – his mother intervened. "Watch your language!"  
The kid turned to her, somehow embarrassed by the sudden scolding. "Mooom!" – he muttered. "Not in front of the forces of evil!"

Star walked towards her unique battle-mates, now joined by Alfonso and Ferguson, the latter proudly caressing his opossum-tail.

"Great job, guys. I guess they learned their lesson…" – she commented, trying not to step on the corpse-like henchmen on the floor. "Now, time to send Zeuro back where he came from…"

"Oh… you mean Mewni…?"

The princess and her friends stared at the green-eyed figure descending from the stairs. Despite having clearly lost this battle, Zeuro looked suspiciously satisfied.

"You know… Mewni… that's where I'm coming from…"  
Star slightly squinted her eyes, skeptical and worried about his words. "You're lying…"  
Zeuro chuckled. "Yeah, I do lie… a lot… but I can be quite convincing…"

The prince didn't lose his evil smile as he slipped something out of his coat. He threw it in Star's direction and it bounced a couple of times on the floor, stopping in front of her boots. The princess didn't even need a closer look to understand what it was. "Mother..." – she whispered, realizing that it was the Queen's crown, only deformed and almost unrecognizable. Star's startled emotion soon turned into anger, her wand glowing menacingly, but Zeuro didn't seem to care or even fear her powers.

"You're wasting your time, princess…" – he said, carefully stepping closer to her, now holding a small iron box; it looked like a tiny treasure chest. "Surrender the wand, Star Butterfly. Do it for your parents…"

She clenched her teeth, her eyes full of rage.  
She felt the Heart of Astria's unlimited energy scorching her hand for a moment.  
And then she lowered the wand as it stopped emitting its usual tingling sounds.  
She took a deep breath, her eyes closed; her parents told her to stay on Earth because it was safer; she obeyed and they ended up kidnapped by the Shadows. "The only time I shouldn't have listened to them…" she thought, noticing the irony of the situation.

With a quick movement, Zeuro grabbed the wand and locked it in the box, containing its powers, disarming the blonde princess, who didn't react.

"Star! What are you doing…?!" – Marco asked, confused by Star's sudden decision.  
"I'm sorry…" – she muttered, turning to him, to his friends and family.

The green-eyed prince snickered, pleased, causing the laser puppies to growl and bark angrily. A fellow Shadow handed some kind of magical-looking handcuffs to him and they proceeded to immobilize Star, who still didn't seem inclined to fight back. The princess felt an unusual feeling of shame as a couple of masked henchmen silently escorted her to the portal they just opened.

Marco knew how much Star cared for her family, but he couldn't let the Shadows take her. He was going to intervene, to roundhouse-kick those brainless mooks and save her; the princess noticed this and slowly shook her head, but the boy ignored her. As the other henchmen went back into the portal, leaving only Zeuro and Star behind, Marco walked towards the self-proclaimed prince, with a serious look drawn on his face. His pals and parents tried to say something to dissuade him, but he didn't care.

"Let her go, Zeuro…" – he said, in a challenging tone, standing in front of him.  
The green-eyed Shadow turned to the boy, repeating his last sentence in a mocking tone. "So sorry, prince wannabe. We only accept royal-blooded guests…".

He then fiercely struck his iron weapon on his chest. Marco let out a choked grunt and fell on his knees, losing his breath for a moment. The laser puppies barked furiously and Star immediately stepped towards her friend as Zeuro giggled disturbingly, enjoying the boy's pain; but the dark prince then pointed his electric truncheon to her throat, forcing her to walk through the portal.

"Don't follow us... not that you can, anyway…" – Zeuro hissed, with a smirk.

Marco raised his head up just as Star and her kidnapper stepped into the interdimensional door. Their eyes met one last time moments before the magical gate disappeared.  
She was gone, almost one day earlier than expected.  
He wouldn't have been ready in any case.  
Marco just stood there on his knees, almost hoping that the portal would suddenly reappear, Star emerging from it, greeting him with her magical smile.

His parents and friends slowly gathered around him and helped him to get up. "I'm sure Star knows what she's doing…" – Mrs. Diaz tried to comfort him. Marco nodded, knowing that his royal friend was not really going to give up without fighting, but that didn't change the fact that they were a team.

"I… I have to help her… but I can't without…" – he muttered, but he was stuck in his own dimension, unable to reach Mewni or any other place in the Universe. The only pair of scissors he had access to were Star's, but any hope of using them disappeared the moment Zeuro kidnapped her.  
"Are you sure they were the only magical scissors here on Earth… ?" – Alfonso asked, in a desperate attempt to sound optimistic.

The apparently useless question triggered something in Marco, like a crazy idea. "No… Alfonso… they were not…" – he whispered. Without saying anything else, the boy suddenly rushed upstairs, going into his room; he crouched and reached for a small box under his bed; he quickly opened it and grabbed what was inside, as an optimistic smile appeared on his face.  
"Ludo's Dimensional Scissors…" he thought. His comically-sized enemy lost them two days earlier, during their "Typical Tuesday Morning Routine". "Thank you, Ludo! Thank you!" – Marco chuckled, realizing how ironic all of that was, how his arch-foe indirectly helped him.

But he didn't want to waste one more second on Earth and immediately opened a portal, his room now lit by the beautiful bright colors of the magical gate.  
Before he could jump into it, his parents and friends appeared by his room's door.

"Marco Ubaldo Diaz, what do you think you're doing?!" – his mother asked, her tone of voice full of anger, but also revealing how worried she was for his son's actions.  
"Go to Mewni; defeat Lord Deimor; help Star save the Universe; in this order…" – her son replied, like it was the most obvious and perfectly elaborated plan ever conceived.  
"Taking risks is one thing, Marco…" – Mr. Diaz said. "You don't have to prove anything… not to us, not to her…" – his father walked towards him and put his hands on the boy's shoulder, giving him an encouraging look. "Doesn't matter what we say: I know you already made your decision… but whatever you're planning to do… don't do it alone…"

The portal to Star's homeworld disappeared as Marco felt his father's arms around him. " _Ten cuidado_ , son…" – he whispered, as Marco hugged him back.

Mr. Diaz eventually let him go, as he knew that this was something bigger than all of them, way bigger than that army of silly monsters that his son and the princess usually fought in the backyard once a week.

"Dude, we should come with you…" – Ferguson never sounded so serious, despite the ridiculous costume.  
Marco chuckled a bit in response. "Don't worry, bro. I'll be fine. Also, those masked jerks might come back. My family needs your tail, man…."

The safe-kid thanked his friends one more time; he turned around and again shredded a portion of reality in front of him, opening another portal.

"Don't do it alone…" – he thought: his dad was right.

In fact, it wasn't a portal to Mewni.

**End of Chapter 14**


	15. The Fallen Kingdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star arrives on Mewni, only to see that her home-world has been completely taken over by the Shadows.  
> The wand falls in Lord Deimor's hands, but the princess is not going to surrender so easily...

**Chapter 15 – The Fallen Kingdom**

Mewni was never considered a great-looking kingdom.  
The city surrounding the majestic royal palace was mostly dirty, poor and sometimes not even safe. As Marco once noted, it looked even worse than Earth's Medieval Europe at times, despite Star describing it as the most joyful, beautiful kingdom in her Galaxy.

In any case, her homeworld definitely looked more "joyful" the last time she saw it.  
From the carriage she was sitting in, escorted by a squadron of Shadows, Mewni looked like a ghost town, an unusually dark place; the normally bright sky was now eerily purple-ish and cloudy, enveloping the entire dimension into a nighttime-like setting. Despite the thick layer of clouds, the bright flashes of light caused by the Dimensional Alignment were still visible.

She saw hundreds of Shadows marching around the city, the sound of their steps echoing in the unnatural silence of the kingdom. It was clear that they were waiting, or even preparing for something.

On their way to the Mewnian palace, Zeuro forced Star to wear one of her usual royal dresses, one that he personally brought to her from her personal wardrobe. "When the world ends, I want you to be beautiful…". Sharing the carriage with him was already an uncomfortable experience for countless of reasons; now Star could feel his green-eyed gaze glued on her, on her dress; it was something she was _not_  flattered by. But she completely ignored him and his taunts: he would tease her on her parents and how they were probably not going to survive; on how they found her because her own father, the King of Mewni, was weak, stupid, worthless; but she remained silent, not even looking back at him, a behavior that Zeuro was visibly annoyed by.

Despite the gloomy weather, the palace still stood like the  _magnus opus_  it was, with its tall, domed towers and intricate architectures. As they passed the gates and the castle walls, Zeuro and a couple of Shadows escorted the princess to the throne room, but not before setting the fancy-looking carriage on fire, symbolically destroying one small symbol of Star's (and her family's) royalty.

As the tall, wooden doors opened, Star found herself in an unfamiliar place, a room crowded by sinister masked figures staring at her. Following the long red carpet leading to the throne, the princess began her 'walk of shame', accompanied by Zeuro. "Not the coronation day you were expecting…" – he snickered annoyingly, trying to tease her one more time, but there was no reaction: Star kept walking in a surprisingly dignified posture.  
She noticed how the two thrones were (perhaps magically) merged into something monstrous, barely recognizable, larger; big enough to fit Lord Deimor's needs, who was sitting on it , waiting for her.

The princess, still handcuffed, was forced to stop right before the short series of steps preceding the throne itself, so she had to look up to the dark lord in order to talk to him, a small detail she swore Zeuro did on purpose, as an act of insane devotion for his master.

"Princess Butterfly…" – Deimor started to talk, his deep, calm voice echoing in the room. "I'm so glad you could come…"  
"The pleasure is all mine…" – she replied, with a blank, sarcastic expression on her face.  
The Lord let out a short, disturbing chuckle. "Like mother, like daughter…" – he commented, noticing the familiar mannerism.

Zeuro stepped in front of Star and revealed the small treasure chest-like box to his master, bowing to him. "The Heart of Astria, my Lord!" – he announced. Deimor's eyes flickered a bit and the box opened; the pink wand that was inside started to magically float and slowly flew right in the Lord's hands. The moment he grabbed it, the artifact flapped its wings alarmingly and started to shake as glowing red cracks appeared on it. The room was engulfed in a blinding red light as the wand morphed into a bigger, eerie-looking sword, with a glowing, blood-colored heart-shaped crystal embedded between its crossguards. Deimor stood up and roared in satisfaction, raising his new, flaming sword, the same weapon that Star saw in her final vision with Astria.

"At last!" – he shouted. "I waited thousands of years for this moment. The Heart of Astria is mine!" – a series of lightning bolts struck the sword, as the Shadows in the throne room exulted for their master. "And now, Mewni… witness the ultimate death of the Universe!"

More bolts struck the Lord and a pillar of light appeared around him. A huge portion of the ceiling collapsed and the pillar quickly reached the Mewnian sky. The clouds over the royal palace billowed and started to spin around the magical force, generating an unnatural storm. Some other clouds faded away as a giant portal appeared, opening like the jaws of a demonic beast, looming darkly over the palace.

A couple of windows in the throne room shattered as the storm-like event outside intensified.  
Despite the wand not being in her control, Star could hear Astria's voice as the gates of the Forbidden Dimension materialized in the sky above the kingdom. "I must be released from my prison…" – the ancient woman insisted.

The pillar finally faded away as Deimor lowered the sword-wand, looking even stronger. It was the climax of the Dimensional Alignment and the Lord now had full access to his dark powers. He somewhat calmed down, taking a deep, ominous breath, his glowing eyes gazing upon the much-awaited dark portal.

"Well…. a deal is a deal, Princess Butterfly…" – he said, once again speaking in his neutral tone of voice. He snapped his iron fingers and Star soon heard someone walking behind her.

"Mom… Dad…"

They said nothing in return; their eyes went teary the moment they saw their daughter. Ignoring the handcuffs and the masked henchmen escorting them, Star ran towards her parents and let them hug her. "I'm so sorry, my darling…" – her father muttered, but she didn't care. Even the Queen, normally a stoic person, couldn't hold her emotions back.

"What a touching moment…" – Deimor commented, sarcastically, overlooking the scene. "One final act of affection… before meeting your ultimate fate…"

Following their master's remark, the Shadows snickered in derision  
But the princess turned to the dark Lord, making sure everyone was able to hear what she had to say. "Mock us if you want… but I saw the man you once were, Lord Deimor…" – she stated, bravely walking towards the steps preceding the monstrous throne, staring right into the Lord's unnatural eyes.

"Or should I say…  _Prince Luxor_!"

Star's words sparked some agitation among the Shadows in the room; a confused expression appeared on Zeuro's face; Lord Deimor's eyes flickered disturbingly but he didn't seem too bothered by that last statement.

"That name means nothing…" – he responded, after a moment of silence, calmly. "It doesn't matter what you call me, princess… now that your Universe is over…"  
"I know that in your own, twisted way, you still lover her, Luxor…" – Star insisted. "That's why the Dimensional Scissors are still working… they're still powered by your love for each other… right?"

Luxor took one more deep breath, his spotlight-like eyes staring right into Star's.

"I suppose you know why I'm doing this then…" – he replied. "The pain I went through. The Universe destroyed my life, my family… I'm just returning the fav-"  
Star shook her head and interrupted him. "The Universe didn't destroy your family, Luxor! Your brother did! And you never wanted to accept it!"

The dark Lord seemed to lose his temper. His eyes glowed more than usual and a flaming beard appeared all around his helmet.

"My brother was a wise man, Star Butterfly. The only person who never wanted to accept the truth was Astria herself!" – he roared, enraged, his voice turning more demonic-sounding. "The Universe she swore to love and protect was a wretched hive of bigotry and corruption. I wanted to protect her from it… and she betrayed me…"

He raised his sword again, the heart-shaped crystal emitting a purple-ish light. A couple of dark-colored, flame-looking entities descended from the gates lighting the sky, turning into reptilian, soldier-like figures the moment they touched the ground, emitting a series of hissing sounds: Zeuro's Shadows looked like clowns compared to that first display of  _real_  Darkness.

"She loved you, Luxor, but you were blinded by your hatred…" – she shouted. "And now you're here, desperately trying to write a happy ending for your own, personal fairytale; an ending in which everything is destroyed…" – she stepped back, like trying to shield her parents. "But then again… I'll just follow your advice… so I won't believe everything I read…" – she said, with a challenging smirk.

Luxor took a series of deep breaths and actually managed to get hold of himself. Despite the impenetrable armor, he could feel Star's words piercing into what was left of his body and flesh; but he couldn't let the princess ruin everything: the gates enclosing the Forbidden Dimension were gone;  _The Darkness_  was coming.  
The Shadows didn't seem to care about this revelation, not even Zeuro: they were all still loyal to him, to his idea of the Universe and the decision of destroying it.

"Well, Princess Butterfly… we all really appreciated your speech… but now it's over…" – he said, in a threatening tone. "I'd suggest you to spend those final moments with your family. Without the wand, you're just a regular princess who doesn't like rules…"  
Star nodded. "That's good to know…"

She turned to her parents, or, to be more precise, to the tall, wooden doors of the throne room. She put two fingers in her mouth, letting out a sharp, piercing, long whistle that echoed in the palace and even outside of it. Star's action was soon followed by a long moment of silence, the Shadows looking at each other with a puzzled expression, Zeuro snickering mockingly; but her parents knew what she just did.

The blonde princess turned to the dark Lord, teasing him with a sly smile.  
Finally, the ground started to shake, but it wasn't an earthquake; they could hear the Shadows outside of the building shouting something out of fear as the stampede-like sounds increased.

A ferocious, wild unicorn crushed through the tall doors, neighing loudly and menacingly. Other unicorns immediately arrived, maybe dozens of them, an entire herd of magical horses galloping around the throne room, wreaking havoc and attacking the Shadows. The newly-arrived, reptilian-looking "dark soldiers" simply dissipated when one of the unicorns literally ran through them.

While Star's animal-friends stormed the place, she turned to her parents. "You have to leave, now! It's too dangerous…" – but they refused to obey. On the contrary, the Queen started to fight too, much to her daughter's surprise, and punched the nearest Shadow right on his mask. "Get out of my Kingdom, you masked fools!"  
Both Star and her father were speechless. "I love this woman…" – the King commented.

He then slipped out a small, golden artifact from one of his pockets, something that Zeuro's henchmen didn't steal from him. Emitting some mechanical sounds, the small object turned into a simple, modest sword, adorned with two crescent moon-shaped (the symbol of Mewni) crossguards. "I've never used it: as you know… I'm not really a hunter…" – he admitted. "It's not a magic wand… but it should do the trick…" – he continued, while finally cutting Star's handcuffs. The princess massaged her wrists and took her father's sword, turning again to Luxor, still overlooking the scene, enraged by how the Shadows were being humiliated by wild unicorns.

"What is the meaning of this?!" – he roared.  
"Let's just say… I don't need the wand to be awesome…" – she replied, chuckling a bit.  
Luxor once again lost his calm. "This insult will not stand!"

The Lord's sword started to glow and emitted a high-pitched sound. The unicorns, whose hearing was notably very sensitive, were quickly put on the run, unable to endure the loud, whistle-like noise. Even Star and the Shadows had to cover their ears for a moment.

The room went silent; the masked henchmen once again surrounded Star and her parents, but they were ready to fight one last time, as a family. Luxor slowly walked towards them, his armor rumbling sinisterly at each step.

"You never fail to impress, Star Butterfly…" – he admitted. "But you're now outnumbered… and outmatched…" – the Shadows around them charged their stunsticks, snickering darkly, with Zeuro's maniacal laugh being annoyingly recognizable. "Surrender now… and I'll let you spend your final moments with your family…"

The princess faked a thoughtful expression, like she was seriously considering the idea of giving up. She spun the Mewnian sword around and dropped into a fighting stance; her parents stood proudly behind her, in a more dignified posture, with an impassable expression. "Interesting offer… but we refuse…" – she responded.

Luxor narrowed his robotic-ish eyes as they heard an ominous sound coming from the sword-wand, like it was charging a destructive spell of some sort.

"A remarkably brave decision, Princess Butterfly…" – his voice turned deeper and more demonic. "But not a wise one…"

She stared at him, no sign of fear or remorse drawn on her or her parents' face.  
The Lord raised his magical, flaming sword, roaring in rage.  
Star spread her arms and stepped back, acting as a human shield for her family.  
Luxor finally swung his dark weapon as a series of lightning bolts struck its blade.

They were ready to take the blow.

But nothing happened.

More like, the flaming-spell stopped and disappeared inches from their faces.  
The failed attack revealed a force field around the royal family, strong enough to endure the wand's spell; Luxor was startled.

The Queen looked at her daughter, puzzled. "Wasn't me…" – the princess immediately responded: she was just as confused as her mother.

"Phew… that was close!" – a girly, high-pitched voice broke the silence.

The shield turned into some kind of powder, which Star recognized as obviously magical. She let some of the grains fall in the palm of her hand so she could give it a closer look. "It's… Pixie Dust!" – she whispered, now even more confused.

"Of course it is, Princess Butterfly!" – a small, winged, bird-sized fairy woman flew in front of her. "It's very abundant on Pixtopia!"  
Star didn't know how to respond. "Pixtopia…?" – she asked.  
"Don't worry, Princess…" – the fairy continued, noticing her perplexed reaction. "We're all here to help!"  
" _We_ …?"

Star heard some hustle behind her. The royal family turned around and let out a soft gasp when they saw an army of creatures marching in the throne room; creatures, aliens and even monsters coming from all over the Universe. Star recognized some familiar faces and species, like the nerdy Squares from the Amethyst Arcade or the perpetual-dancing people from The Bounce Lounge dimension.

The Shadows staggered back helplessly and all rushed to the other side of the room, where Luxor was standing in an unsettling silence, observing the scene. Zeuro tried to hide his scared reaction with an angry smirk, unsuccessfully.

"What… what's happening?" – Star asked, smiling incredulously.

Another flying creature glided towards her, letting out her well-known excited neigh.

"You know you could never throw a party without me, girl! – she uttered. "Come on, B-Fly! Let's get this party started!"  
Star's pupils went, fittingly enough, star-shaped. "Pony Head! What are you doing here…?!"

The flying unicorn head was Star's best friend from Mewni since their childhood, so the fact that she was there to help the royal family in a difficult, near-apocalyptic moment wasn't really a surprise. The wayward animal princess turned unnaturally serious for a moment though.

"You think we'd let you fight those masked jerks alone?! You'd be surprised of what the good old word of mouth is capable of!" – she explained.  
"Word of… wait, who told you…" – but Star already knew the answer to that question.

Somebody went dimension-jumping as soon she was kidnapped by Zeuro. This "somebody" must have told everyone what was happening, how they were all in danger, no matter what dimension they were from. Like Pony Head said, word of mouth did the rest.  
Star noticed how creatures from normally rival races and species were now standing next to each other, ready to fight the common enemy in the name of the Universe.  
She even recognized some of the villains she defeated in her past adventures.

"I hate to admit it… but maybe the _turd_  deserves to be your  _other_ bestie, after all…" – Pony Head said, spelling the word "other" with particular emphasis. Star knew exactly of whom she was talking about.

Upon seeing that scene, Luxor's patience wore off and raised his sword; a lightning bolt struck the weapon and Star finally seemed to remember why they were all there in the first place.

"You're all wasting your time, Princess Butterfly. Your pathetic army is nothing compared to the powers of The Darkness…" – the Lord stated, losing his normally calm behavior.

Something triggered into Zeuro as he heard his master speak; he charged his stunstick, his green eyes full of rage, and sprinted towards the princess. "Allow me to demonstrate, my Lord…". He jumped like a rabid beast with the worst intentions, looking truly threatening this time. Star was ready to fend him off with her father's sword, but a boy in a red-hoodie anticipated her actions; he quickly jumped too and fly-kicked the green-eyed prince while in mid-air, propelling Zeuro back to the other side of the throne room.  
The boy then landed next to the blonde princess, striking his usual fighting pose, and smiled to her.

"What…? We're a team, remember…?" – he said, like he was stating the obvious.  
"The best team ever…" – she nodded, returning Marco's smile.

Maybe it was a painfully familiar scene to him, seeing the princess and the boy sharing a deep, sincere friendship; whatever the reason, Luxor's rage grew dramatically, flames engulfing his wand-sword and helmet, the heart-shaped crystal visibly "pumping" its magical force into the weapon it was part of.

"Princess Butterfly! I tried to give you the chance of spending the Universe's final moments with your family…" – he roared. "But I see you prefer to perish in battle instead…"

All the Shadows raised their stunsticks, the electricity flickering in their truncheons; Zeuro got up on his feet, clenching his sharp-looking teeth; Luxor stepped towards the princess, the sword visibly glowing with dark powers.

The unusually variegated, colorful army didn't flinch; Star turned to them, to her new friends and allies, the ones who came from all over the Universe to fight this final battle. They all looked at her like they were expecting the princess to say something, shout an order or even give a long, encouraging speech.  
For the first time in her life, Star truly felt like a trusted leader.  
Like a Queen.

Standing on the front line, she raised her Mewnian sword, a determined look drawn on her face, staring Prince Luxor into his glowing, demonic eyes.

"Bring it!" – she muttered.

And the Battle of Mewni began.

**End of Chapter 15**


	16. The Battle of Mewni

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star and her (old and new) friends fight the common enemy, sparking a warfare-like scenario in the entire Kingdom.  
> The stakes are high; failure is not an option.   
> And deeper feelings will be finally revealed.

**Chapter 16 – The Battle of Mewni**

Star and Marco knew how to put up a good fight.

In the years they spent together, they learned to defend themselves from all kinds of evil forces; but what they were experiencing on Mewni during the Dimensional Alignment was something unprecedented.

Different species from different worlds, fighting against a common enemy, for a common goal.  
The Pixies flew around in flocks, releasing their magical dust against the Shadows; a group of spider-like creatures from the Entomon Dimension used their web-weaving abilities to immobilize their masked enemies, while the Bounce Lounge's dancers finished them off to the beat of the music produced by the huge speakers they brought with them. Prince Cloro was there too, fighting with two swords at the same time, showing off his fencing talent. A couple of Shadows were instead busy with a young, three-eyed demon. "Wait… are you on our side? You look like something out of the Darkness…" – they asked, genuinely confused. "Oh… I'm a different kind of darkness…" – the demon-boy replied, with a sly smile, eyes glowing red as his hands turned into two flamethrowers, easily defeating the two unfortunate henchmen. "The cool kind…" – he whispered, blowing on his fingers.

The battle also ensued in the rest of the Shadow-infested kingdom.  
Joining forces with the volunteers who came from all over the Universe, the Mewnian town folks fiercely revolted against the invaders, preventing them from reaching the already Shadow-plagued royal palace. "Enjoy our local specialties, ugly-face!" – a woman shouted, heavily beating one of Zeuro's henchmen with a long, hard, baguette-shaped piece of bread. A well-known potion smuggler of Mewni quickly prepared an explosive mixture and poured it into a couple of phials, using them to dispatch the threatening squadrons of Shadows marching around the kingdom.

As the battle raged across the city outside, Star and Marco kept fighting side by side in the chaotic throne room, watching each other's backs as usual; their movements and attacks were still extremely well-coordinated, despite being mostly improvised. The princess soon got used to her new non-magical weapon, easily fending off the skull-masked enemies. "You know… I kinda like this sword actually…" – she commented, dodging an ill-aimed punch (and quickly returning the favor). Marco displayed his well-known ability with karate by successfully landing three roundhouse kicks to one bulky, unlucky Shadow, all while making a loud but unnecessary Bruce Lee impression. He then turned to his royal friend, admiring how good she was in combat, even without the wand; Marco soon felt again the breathtaking urge to confess his feelings for her, ignoring the fate-deciding battle raging around them: apparently, fighting alongside Star in a war-like scenario was still less stressful than telling the girl of your dreams how much you like her.

" _Posa_ … I know this is definitely not the best time…" – he spoke loudly, his voice overcoming the intense sounds of the battle. "…but there's something I need to tell you…"  
Star warded off a particularly persistent Shadow and smashed his mask with the sword's iron hilt. "Sure, Marco. Tell me!" – she smiled at him like there wasn't any warfare going on.

The boy mustered all the courage he had, while punching one of the dark henchmen in the chest. "Alright, Star… it's quite complicated so…" – he started to sweat a bit and not because he was in the middle of the biggest battle he's ever seen. "When you told me you were going to leave because of your Queen-duties… I was really happy for you… but I was lying… – he said, awkwardly avoiding eye contact.  
Star blinked a couple of times, slightly confused. "So… you were not happy for me…"  
Marco realized his poor choice of words and nervously shook his head. "No! I mean… of course I was! But the whole 'leaving-Earth-forever-thing'… I didn't like that… and I just wanted to…" – but a stunstick-wielding Shadow cut him off, the boy's tone of voice shifting into something way more annoyed. "…crush your stupid mask, you jerk!"

Despite the interruption, Star still understood what her human friend was talking about.  
The last couple of days felt like a parade of awkwardness; her heart-shaped cheeks glowed remarkably often whenever he was around, especially after  _that_  dance on Floria.  
She knew exactly what Marco was going to say and how he was feeling.  
Because she was in the same situation.

But it wasn't just the last few days.  
It all started at least months before her mother's letter about the coronation, but they both simply refused to admit it; they refused to accept that their friendship was naturally evolving into something else; they tried to ignore the most obvious thing of all, something that everyone, friends, family and even some villains could see.  
They were falling in love for each other.

"I told Alfonso and Ferguson to stop looking for hidden feelings… even though the idea of losing you was… terrifying..." - the boy chuckled nervously. "You know, now that I think about it… over the years I got so used to having you around… I sometimes forgot that we had an expiry date…"

The princess reached for his hand and pulled him next to her, also saving him from an axe-swinging henchman. "Marco…" – she started to talk, shredding the Shadow's uniform with her sword, exposing his colorful underwear. "…we both knew I wasn't going to stay on Earth forever, but that doesn't change anything…" – they jumped and fly-kicked the two Shadows who tried to attack them. "We had a great time together… the best time of my life, that's for sure…" – she smiled at him, but her soft tone of voice revealed her true, sadder emotions. "I just wish this wasn't our last adventure…"

Marco returned Star's faint smile and stepped in front of her; the furious battle raging around them seemed to disappear as they once again only had eyes for each other.

"For what it's worth, just knowing you was the greatest adventure I could've ever hoped for…" – the boy said, almost whispering, his face now only inches away from Star's.

For a moment, it felt like time was slowing down for them.  
They stared into each other's eyes as their foreheads gently touched.  
Star's warm, heart-shaped cheeks glowed in approval as she accepted the truth, finally embracing her true feelings for Marco.  
The boy wished for that moment to last longer, but the Shadows were awfully persistent.

They both couldn't ignore the battle forever and turned to the masked henchmen, only to find out that a big, humanoid frog-like monster already took care of them.

"Buff Frog?! What are you doing here?!" – Star asked, surprised and confused to see a member of Ludo's army helping them.  
"Your work, apparently!" – a high-pitched voice replied for him. "There's a battle going on here! Save your disgusting  _fluff_  for later!"

Ludo walked towards them, holding his staff, visibly annoyed by Star and Marco's behavior –or existence. "We don't have time for this  _bullblaark_!".  
Still perplexed, Star turned to her human friend. "You convinced Ludo?!"  
Marco simply shrugged in response. "It was easier than you think…"

The comically sized villain scoffed and pointed his staff to the princess. "Don't get too sentimental, Star Butterfly. We're not here to help you…" – he then looked at the huge hole in the ceiling, catching a glimpse of the dark portal leading to the Forbidden Dimension. "If that  _Lord Idiot_ destroys the Universe, there's nothing left for me to take over!" – he explained.  
Star chuckled a bit and nodded. "I guess that makes sense…"

More Shadows surrounded them, charging their weapons, looking threatening and menacing for about three seconds; the rest of Ludo's animal-like monsters showed up and quickly disposed of them. "We can handle those jerks! You go find that  _Lord Dementor_  or whatever his name is!" – Ludo shouted, beating a masked henchman with his staff.

Surprised to find an unexpected ally in their arch-foe, Star and Marco ran through the large throne room, the warfare-like scenario still going strong. They noticed more portals opening as more creatures from different dimensions joined the battle. "I guess those are our reinforcements!" – the boy commented, noticing how the new-arrivals immediately attacked the Shadows.

"And also the last ones…"

Startled, they both turned to Luxor as he spoke, his deep, demonic voice easily overcoming the loud battle. They didn't even have the time to react as an invisible, magical force pushed them violently. Marco fell on the floor, breathless and immobilized by some kind of freezing spell, while Star endured the attack.

The Heart of Astria turned dark purple, glowing red cracks appearing on it as Luxor clenched his iron fingers around the sword's hilt; Star swore she could hear Astria screaming the moment her heart was damaged. "Now you will all have the honor of being the first witnesses to the destruction of your Universe…"

Star ignored Luxor's taunts and charged at him with her Mewnian sword upheld. The dark Lord swung his own magical blade, emitting another blast of magical force. The princess managed to dodge the invisible attack and struck her weapon into her enemy's armor, right where his heart was supposed to be. Luxor roared in pain, but his scream soon turned into an unsettling laugh; he easily thrust Star away from him as a purple-ish liquid poured from the hole in his armor. "You can't kill what's already dead, Princess Butterfly…" – the "wound" quickly healed itself and the dark Lord's glare glowed more menacingly.

Disturbing, beast-like sounds came from the sky above the palace as more creatures emerged from the Forbidden portal. The two shade entities flew towards Luxor and assumed their true, gargoyle-like form, their bodies completely dark purple, with two yellow eyes as the only visible feature.

"You're a worthy opponent, Princess… but I have a Universe to destroy…" – he said, opening a portal with his ancient dimensional scissors.

Luxor disappeared into the magical gate as more entities made of pure darkness descended from the sky. Star tried to reach the closing portal, but the two shade monsters stepped in front of her, roaring in her face, with their sharp teeth exposed; the princess didn't even flinch: she adjusted her hair and slashed the two creatures with her sword in a quick, deft movement, dissipating them into a black cloud of nothingness.

"You're not as tough as you look…" – she commented, with a smirk. She turned around, waiting for Marco to say something, one of his cheesy one-liners or sarcastic remarks, but he wasn't there anymore. "Marco…?" – she called, her voice falling flat in the loud battle raging around her. She eventually heard an answer, but not the one she was expecting. "Star!" – the ethereal voice of Astria drew the princess' attention to the dark portal looming over the kingdom. "I must be released from my prison!"

* * *

The royal palace started to show the signs of the fate-deciding warfare. Flames engulfed the once shiny, domed towers; the main walls crumbled as the intricate architectures and decorations of the building were devoured by fire. Enlightening the Mewnian sky, the gates of the Forbidden Dimension looked more like the open jaws of a voracious beast, a giant monster continuously vomiting a waterfall of dark creatures over the entire kingdom.

Just outside the castle, in the thoughtless belief that they were able to tame those chaotic creatures, a group of Shadows gloated naively the moment one of these dark gargoyles landed in front of them; but the shade demon didn't seem to appreciate their enthusiasm. It roared furiously, its yellow eyes glowing ominously as it leaped towards them. The Shadows let out a terrified scream just as the creature disintegrated inches from their masked faces.

As the cloud of dark dust dissolved, it revealed the tall, noble figure of Queen Nova Butterfly, holding a long sabre.

"Now you know the truth, you masked fools! You've been no more than a bunch of disposable puppets for your Master!" – she spoke in a harsh, scolding tone. "But it's not too late to gain some free will…"  
The group of Shadows pulled their stun-weapons out as more shade demons appeared around them. "It doesn't matter anymore… we're all going to die either way…"– one of them responded, his cracking voice exposing the scared young man hiding behind the mask.  
The Queen lowered her sword and walked towards the mooks. "Maybe…" – she admitted. "But at least you can choose  _how_  you want to be remembered…"

The dark gargoyles-looking beasts roared and charged at them, displaying their demonic fangs. The Queen promptly raised her weapon, but she was anticipated by the Shadows; they attacked the monsters, dissipating them into a cloud of nothingness. The henchmen then turned to the royal woman and slowly removed their masks, revealing themselves as the ordinary, probably misguided people they truly were.

"We don't expect your forgiveness, Your Majesty…"  
The Queen simply stared at them, without losing her serious composure.

Another beast suddenly appeared behind her; she raised her sabre but the monster quickly hit her with its enormous claws. It growled, its eyes glowing wildly. The threatening sound turned into an unsettling scream of pain as a blade pierced through the creature's chest. The moment the beast disintegrated, it produced a dense puff of smoke and the man who slayed it walked right through it.

"Are you OK, my Queen…?" – the King asked, lending his hand to her.  
"I thought you were not a hunter..." – she replied, rather sarcastically.

River responded with a surprisingly light-hearted chuckle and caressed his long, somehow scorched beard. He then noticed the unmasked Shadows and held his sword against them, his laugh stopping abruptly.

"They're on our side now…"– she reassured, lowering the husband's weapon.

Zeuro's ex-henchmen bowed to the royals of Mewni and raised their once-threatening electric weapons in sign of reverence. More Shadows cautiously gathered around them, removing their own masks. They were ordinary men and women of all ages and species, people who realized the horrible mistakes they've made.

"We won't forget your wrongdoings: you will all pay for your crimes…" – the Queen cut short, without giving too many false hopes. "But I respect you for stepping to the right side of history…"

As she said that, a ghostly, piercing roar caught their attention: they all gazed upon the dark portal looming over the palace as an enormous flying serpent emerged from the nightmare-inducing depths of the Forbidden Dimension. The creature disorientedly flew in random direction, crushing right through one of the domed towers; it immediately collapsed, as the flying snake didn't even seem to notice the destruction it was causing.

The two royal parents could only watch haplessly as the true power of the Darkness slowly started to consume their kingdom. Nova's normally calm and impassive behavior faded away, teary eyes revealing the pain that, not only as a queen, but as a mother, she was going through.

"River…" – she muttered, her husband taking her hand. "Where is our daughter…?"

* * *

He felt the whole place shake violently, the disturbing sound of a distant thunder-like noise echoing in the empty hallway. Marco woke up astonished, breathing heavily; the boy slowly regained full control over his body as the freezing spell's effects wore off. He found himself sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. Nobody was there with him, but he could still hear the muffled sounds of the battle raging somewhere in the palace. He slowly got up, wondering how he even got there, and walked around, looking for any sign of life, preferably a friendly one.

Despite the destructive warfare, that corridor was apparently left untouched by the battle. Ignoring the ghostly, green-ish light of the Forbidden portal coming through the tall windows, it almost looked like a safe, peaceful place.

Marco's footsteps were the loudest sound in that wing of the palace. He kept walking, expecting to meet someone in that long hallway. The boy breathed deeply, his memories a bit messed up by Luxor's spell. He groaned in frustration and stopped walking, but the footsteps didn't.  
There was somebody behind him.

He turned around, letting out one of his Bruce Lee screams, scaring his stalker.

"Whoa… whoa! Marco… calm down! It's me!"

Cloro held his hands up, repeating "It's me!" a couple of more times. Marco felt still a bit dizzy, but was perfectly able to recognize his royal friend from Floria. He patted the prince's shoulder, sighing in relief, sincerely happy to see a familiar face.

"You passed out in the middle of the battle, so I brought you here…" – Cloro explained. "You slept for fifteen minutes I think…"  
Marco thanked him, but that didn't answer the most important question. "Where is Star?" – he asked, feeling completely useless in a Universe filled with royal-blooded warriors.  
"I… I don't know, I didn't see her when I…"  
"What do you mean 'you didn't see her'? She was right beside me when… when the spell…" – not being able to fully remember what actually happened only minutes before was infuriating for him.  
"Marco, calm down… We're talking about Star Butterfly here… I'm sure she's fine…"

The safe kid glanced outside of the window, catching a glimpse of the town around the palace, the houses engulfed in flames as blurry, winged figures flew around the kingdom. Despite the apocalypse consuming the dimension, he knew that Star was fine, alive; he knew her too well: the princess was not an easy target for the forces of evil, no matter how powerful they were. Marco's flow of thoughts was interrupted by Cloro's chuckle.

"You told her, didn't you…?" – he asked, with a knowing smile, acting more like a curious older brother than a royal figure. Marco didn't really answer to that question, but that didn't seem to stop the prince's surprising enthusiasm. "Alright, let's go find her..."

And he appeared out of nowhere, fittingly enough, like a Shadow.  
The stunstick emitted its disturbing zapping sound as Cloro was being shocked right in front of Marco, the Shadow leader's green eyes gleaming in insane enjoyment.  
The Florian prince fell at his aggressor's feet, barely awake, on the brink of passing out.  
Zeuro laughed maniacally, spinning his weapon in a victoriously manner, and turned to the boy in the red hoodie.

"You know… I've been waiting for this day my whole life…" – he spoke in a hissing, enraged tone, slowly walking towards Marco. "I dedicated my entire existence to The Darkness, to my fellow comrades, the Shadows…" – he shook his head, laughing sarcastically, his voice turning more menacing. "The Shadows, my  _besties_ … you know what they did in return...? They joined the enemy. They're fighting against the Darkness now, not for it…"

Marco realized the utter frustration the green-eyed prince was going through and actually tried to reason with him.

"We don't have to fight then. I don't know how this Darkness works, but I'm sure it doesn't care whose side you're on: it's going to kill you either way, Zeuro…"  
The Shadow leader chuckled bitterly. "One thing you got right,  _wannabe_ : you don't know how all of this works…" – he stared at him, with a threatening glare. "In fact, you know absolutely nothing. Who are you anyway, Marco? You're just a worthless kid from a worthless dimension. What are you, compared to  _me_ …?"

The boy clenched his fists, but then decided to ignore his insults, not wanting to give Zeuro the pleasure of seeing him hurt. He again glanced outside of the window, the kingdom still devastated and infested by the shade demons, but a notably huge, flying, serpent-like monster soaring directly towards them was what caught his attention this time.

"Doesn't matter anyway…" – he raised his stunstick and pointed it to the boy's neck. "Any last words, wannabe?"  
Marco looked at the flying dark serpent, now only a few feet away from them, and responded with a smirk. "Pretend I said something sarcastic…"

The snake beast roared intensely as it crushed through the lower floors of the building. The entire place shook violently, taking Zeuro off guard, who almost lost his balance. The so-called safe kid charged at him, again showing off an unnecessary Bruce Lee impression; the dark prince's stunstick emitted its electric sounds as he tried to pierce it through Marco's chest, but the boy warded him off with one of his roundhouse kicks, leaving a shoe imprint on his face; as the two fought each other, the "earthquake" shattered the corridor's windows and opened huge cracks in the wall.

"You're good,  _wannabe_ …" - he admitted, gently patting his own, shoe-imprinted cheek. "But let's face it, you're not a real warrior…"

Zeuro pointed his weapon to him as it emitted an electric blast. The attack hit Marco directly, shocking him for a few seconds. The boy fell on the floor, moaning in pain; he saw the self-proclaimed prince standing by him, sporting a victorious smirk, his haunting green eyes proving how amused he was. Meanwhile, the place stopped shaking as the giant, dark serpent flew away, distancing itself from the palace, its unsettling roar echoing in the entire dimension.

"You're just a very lucky survivor… but we're going to fix that…" – he hissed, charging again his weapon, ready to land one final blow on his chest.  
"We'll see about that…" – Marco replied.

With a deft movement, he kicked him in the ankle, thus tripping him down. He rolled quickly and got up on his feet, just as a furious Zeuro re-charged his weapon and leaped towards him; the boy avoided the attack and, despite the dark prince's enraged screams, finally heard a familiar, friendly voice.

"Marco, think fast!" – Cloro shouted, throwing something at him.

The safe kid dodged one more electric blast but was still able to catch the small, purple cube. He held it on the palm of his hand, just as Zeuro stood in front of him, and, remembering what he saw back on Floria, he blew softly on it, turning it into a tasty cloud of powdered Florian sugar. The green-eyed prince coughed in disgust as the sweet smoke engulfed him, leaving a purple layer of edible dust on his clothes.

"Eew! What is this horrible thing?!" – he asked, annoyed.  
"Florian Sugar. She loves it…" – Marco replied, unable to hide a sly smile.  
" _She_ …?"

The answer to that last question came in the form of a loud, shrieking noise and a giant bug smashing through the already damaged walls. Mothy, Cloro's adorable, car-sized pet moth opened his giant mouth wide, already tasting the sweet flavor of her favorite meal. Her long, tentacle-like tongue sprung out of her jaws and quickly wrapped around a terrified (and sugar-covered) Zeuro, who let out a surprisingly high-pitched scream as the beast pulled him inside of her mouth. As the dark prince disappeared between the moth's jaws, an awkward silence fell on the hallway, followed by a burp-like sound coming from Mothy, as both Marco and Cloro proved a mixture of disgust and fear.

"Did… did she just eat him…?" – the safe kid asked, eyes wide open in disbelief. He was not expecting such an extreme demise for his green-eyed enemy. Cloro remained silent.

However, the Shadow leader's salty personality was a bit too much even for the giant moth. Nauseated, she made gagging sound and puked, the disgusting vomit barely avoiding the two friends standing in front of her. She then flapped her wings and flew away, probably looking for something easier to digest, leaving a defeated Zeuro in a puddle of pink vomit, muttering something about his dress being ruined forever. "That is so wrong…" – Marco admitted, covering his nose. The dark prince tried to shout one last insult, but he was too nauseated and simply passed out instead.

Cloro chuckled a bit and pulled his dimensional scissor out. "Well, time to lock our friend in a Florian prison. My farther  _really_  wants to meet him in person so…" – he tried to open a portal, but the fabric of reality remained intact. "That's odd…" – he insisted, but nothing happened.

"It won't work… Luxor cast a spell on the whole Dimension…" – a voice explained.

Marco recognized that voice and shouted the person's name out of surprise and joy. "Star!" – he staggered towards the princess, staring at her like she was the most beautiful sight in that dying Universe –and she truly was, to him. Star smiled cheerfully and wrapped her arms around Marco, hugging him tight, the safe kid immediately returning the act of affection. They once again seemed to forget about the apocalyptic situation around them, something that Cloro noticed; he coughed loudly to get their attention, awkwardly interrupting their moment together.

"I'm sorry but…  _a spell_ …?" – he questioned.  
The two teens turned to the Florian prince, just when Marco realized that something else was off. "Wait…  _Luxor_? I thought we were fighting that Deimor-guy…"  
"Yeah… apparently, there was some kind of mix-up in the fairytale…" – Star replied. "It's a long story…"

She walked towards one of the shattered windows, looking at her burning kingdom, wondering whatever her parents were still alive somewhere in that warfare, as more nightmare creatures emerged from the dark portal looming over Mewni.

"Cloro… me and my family could never thank you enough for your help… but I need one last favor…" – she spoke in a notably serious tone. "I need you to evacuate the entire royal palace as fast as you can…"  
The Florian prince nodded to her, without questions. "Most of the building is already empty, Star. Consider it done…"

The princess nodded back to him, a grateful smile drawn on her face.  
Before leaving, Cloro helped the puke-covered Zeuro to stand up on his feet and handcuffed him. "You're coming with me though. Once the spell is broken, you'll spend the rest of your days in a Florian prison…" – the Shadow leader, still dizzy and confused, simply muttered a couple of intelligible (and probably very vulgar) words.

Star's grateful smile turned into a slightly surprised smirk. "Wait, that disgusting thing on the floor was Zeuro all along?! What happened to him?!" – she asked, gesturing to the nauseating puddle of vomit produced by Mothy only moments before.  
"Trust me, you don't want to know…" – Marco replied, shaking his head, his cheeks turning green for a few seconds; the princess didn't dare to insist.

Cloro then walked away with his prisoner, leaving the two teens alone in the crumbling corridor.

"You should go with him…" – Star suggested, but she knew that he wasn't going to listen.  
"Is that a joke…?" – Marco replied, with a smirk. "We're a team, remember?" – he chuckled, completely ignoring his royal friend's advice. He then asked the obvious: "So… how do we stop Luxor before The Darkness destroys everything and everyone?"  
The princess responded with a knowing smile. "Well…  _we_  have a plan…" – she said, casually glancing outside of the window. "…but I'll need the only still functioning Dimensional Scissors to make it work… the oldest scissors in the Universe…"

She looked through the huge breach in the wall left by Mothy, gazing upon the palace's highest tower, the one dangerously close to the dark portal due to its height.

"Luxor's scissors…"

**End of Chapter 16**


	17. The Dark Gates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the brink of the Apocalypse, Star and Marco face the Dark Lord at the top of the royal palace's highest tower.  
> But as the princess' crazy plan turns way more dangerous than expected, the so-called "safe-kid" takes one final risk in the name of love.

**Chapter 17 – The Dark Gates**

"Are you sure this is going to work…?"

Upon hearing Star's plan, as they ran through the empty rooms of the royal palace, Marco became understandably worried for her and his own safety. The princess reminding how "It worked!" back on Floria wasn't really reassuring; the forces involved were just too strong and unpredictable, but it's not like the alternative was much better.

The Darkness' creatures started to get more alien-looking, malevolent and resistant; the gates of the Forbidden Dimension needed to be closed as soon as possible since the reality itself seemed to flicker on and off in the kingdom: most clocks stopped, buildings collapsed despite being untouched by the warfare and some people started to feel dizzy or nauseated for no apparent reason.

"I know it's dangerous…" – Star admitted. "Not my safest plan, that's for sure…"  
Marco chuckled a bit in response. "Good thing you have the  _safe_  kid on your side then…"

Star smiled to him.  
She was glad he was there with her, despite the questionable sanity of her plan. "I guess you did welcome more dangers in your life, after all…" – she joked, remembering how different things were back when they first met, while also realizing how far they've come.

Hand in hand, they now stood before the long staircase leading to the palace's tallest tower, ready to fight this final battle together.  
They were a team and that was the only thing that mattered.

* * *

The terrace was lit by the ominous green light coming from the dark portal, clouds slowly spinning around it. The unnatural storm looming above the palace seemed to calm down, despite the eldritch creatures still emerging from the Forbidden Dimension. Those monsters were violent, malevolent, but carefully left that roof untouched, the fence running all around the edge of it still completely intact.

Prince Luxor stared at the portal in a silent amazement, his lifelong dreams of destroying the unworthy Universe finally coming true. Something kept bothering him however, the haunting, soft voice coming from the depth of the forbidden place, a voice he knew too well and couldn't possibly ignore.

"You know I'm doing this for you… Astria…" – the dark Lord stated, the moment he felt a familiar presence standing on that roof.

The ancient princess appeared behind him, the wind blowing through her long blue hair. She wasn't the young girl that fell in love with him anymore, but a disillusioned, tired middle-aged woman.

"This is not you, Luxor. This is madness. But you can still stop this…" – her voice was monotone, almost broken by tears. The prince's response was a long silence, his attention still glued on the forbidden gates. "Look at me, Luxor… please…"  
He took a deep breath and slowly turned around, the vision of Astria standing right there in front of him triggering no reaction. "You're not really here: you're just a projection of your soul in this Dimension…" – he stated, remaining calm and uninterested. "Whatever you're trying to do, it won't work…"

Astria ignored her lover's accusations and walked towards him. "I can still see the man underneath this cursed iron cage…" – her ethereal hand passed right through the armor. "Let it end, Luxor… before it's too late…"

The prince's spotlight-eyes flickered and his impassable attitude faded away as he could feel Astria's hand caressing what was left of his face. The princess's projection started to glow, engulfing the two lovers in a magic "bubble" of some sort. Mewni's dark atmosphere was replaced by a bucolic landscape, a shared memory; Deimor's armor disappeared, revealing to Astria an older, human Luxor. Spell or illusion, the prince was startled and breathed heavily, almost panicking the moment he saw the princess with his own purple eyes.

"Astria…" – he whispered, in confusion, gently holding her hand.  
"Do you remember, Luxor… how happy we were..." – she spoke softly, her blue eyes glued on the man he fell in love with. "Don't be a monster… you're not your brother…"

It was probably a poor choice of words.  
Luxor blinked a couple of times and clenched his teeth in anger. The magical illusion surrounding them flashed away as the dark storm around the portal grew stronger. Again in his brother's cursed, horned armor, the prince pushed Astria away, dissipating her spirit-like vision, even though she wasn't really there in the first place. He turned to the gates of the Forbidden Dimension, giant squid-like creatures emerging from it.

"It is already too late, Astria..." – he roared, shouting his words at the portal. "My new Universe will soon rise… with or without you!"

The sky was enlightened by an alarming series of lightning bolts, the wind now blowing stronger. The Dimensional Alignment was at its true climax and there was now nothing standing between The Darkness and the Universe. The prince kept staring at the gates, expecting some kind of answer.

"Luxor!"

And he heard a young woman's voice shouting his name, but it was not his princess.  
Star and Marco stood in a fighting stance on the other side of the roof, the princess firmly holding the Mewnian sword, with a serious expression drawn on her face, her blonde hair blowing in the wind.

"Princess Butterfly! You're awfully persistent I see…" – he greeted her affably, slowly walking towards the two teenagers. "You truly never cease to impress…"

Despite his friendly mannerism, the prince pulled out his threatening sword-wand, the cracked Heart of Astria this time glowing in a bloody-red light, while purple flames engulfed the blade.

"I'd love to tell you how lucky you are, princess: the first witness to the apocalypse…" – the wand emitted a familiar, yet disturbing charging sound, a spell brewing deep into its magical heart-shaped core. "But in an unexpected twist… I'm afraid the Universe will outlive you after all…"  
Star responded with her usual smirk and stepped towards the prince, staring at him. "Only one way to find out…"  
The prince narrowed his robot-ish eyes, his voice now deeper. "So be it…"

The two teens charged at him, dodging the fire blasts coming from Luxor's sword. Marco jumped high and landed a flying kick on his helmet, but there was no visible damage. The prince's eyes flickered as he swung the enormous sword-wand around, both hands gripping the hilt; the boy barely avoided the blade while Star managed to block it with her own, smaller sword; she endured the prince's unnatural strength, but more flames engulfed the wand, melting her father's weapon; her sword's hilt turned red and scorched her hands, but she didn't step back, since she saw exactly what she was looking for.

Marco again leaped towards the prince, jumping on his back and grabbing the armor's huge horns; Luxor grunted annoyingly, almost losing balance, and raised his sword, charging one more spell. "Perfect timing!" Star thought; her hand reached for the distracted prince's Dimensional Scissors, pulling them out of his armor belt, just as a bolt of lightning struck the sword-wand, creating a powerful force-field all around the dark Lord.

The magical shield-like force kicked both teenagers across the roof. Moaning in pain, but glad that it wasn't another freezing spell, Marco turned to Star, who was lying next to him, strangely sporting the most inappropriate, silly smile.

"What's so funny…?" – he asked, confused.  
Star chuckled a bit and showed the scissors to him. "I got them…!"

They quickly stood up, the princess carefully hiding the magical artifact behind her back. Luxor roared, furious, eyes glowing wildly, his voice now deep and more demonic than usual; he stomped his left iron foot on the floor, making the whole tower shake like it was struck by an earthquake; huge, deep cracks opened all around the roof, steam-like fire fiercely gushing out.

"You're brave, Star Butterfly… but your courage is only surpassed by your stubbornness!" – he shouted, the dark storm above them worsening. "You can't stop the apocalypse, princess. You can't possibly stop  _me_! You may be strong, intelligent… but you're  _not_  Astria…"

Star stared at him, right in his glowing demon-eyes. She gripped the scissors and pulled them out slowly.

"You're right, Luxor… I'm not Astria…" – she replied, with a smirk. "So let me do this my way…"

The princess jumped high, higher than she ever did, surprising even Marco, who was supposedly used to her incredible skills. She activated the scissors while in mid-air and slashed a portion of reality in front of her, opening a small portal. When the prince realized what was stolen from him only moments earlier, it was already too late.

"It can't be… it's…" – Luxor muttered.  
"A  _black hole_ …" – Star said, as the chaos ensued.

The small portal flickered, emitting a series of thunder-like sounds; it then grew bigger remarkably fast, generating a violent shock wave in the process; the blast disarmed Luxor and thrust both Star and Marco against the roof fence.  
The black hole soon interacted with the gates of the Forbidden Dimension, making the dark portal visibly unstable, while literally swallowing the monstrous shade creatures emerging from it, thus preventing them from reaching Mewni and the rest of the Universe.  
The two dangerous portals somehow merged into one, unstable, voracious beast, its attractive force reaching an unimaginable strength.

The two teenagers were holding on to the roof fence, feeling like there was something dragging them up by their legs. They heard the most disturbing sounds coming from the sky, like the Forbidden Dimension was itself a creature fighting the black hole.

"Star… I think it worked!" – he shouted, noticing how the shade monsters disappeared into the singularity.

But the princess next to him didn't say anything; instead, she stared at the chaotic portal, her blue eyes reflecting the ominous green light of the unnatural storm. "I must be released from my prison…" – she whispered, repeating Astria's incessant, enigmatic words, just as the sword-wand floated above her, slowly getting sucked in the dark dimension.  
She knew what to do, the craziest part of her plan.  
That one part of  _their_  plan that her human friend wasn't aware of.

She turned to Marco and smiled, shedding a single tear, a behavior that the safe kid found utterly terrifying. Horrified, he saw Star letting the fence go, the portal's attractive force doing the rest.

"Star!" – he screamed in panic as he grabbed her hand, keeping her anchored to him. "What are you doing? Are you insane?!"  
The blonde princess simply smiled to him, her heart-cheeks glowing in a warm, pink light. "I'm so glad my parents sent me on Earth…" – she spoke softly, chuckling a bit, more tears running down her face. "…because knowing you was the greatest adventure I could've ever hoped for…"

Star's familiar words confused Marco even more, who didn't like at all the tone of her voice. He pulled her closer to him, but the portal's force was getting stronger.

"I won't let you go…" – he muttered, unsuccessfully trying to hold his tears in.  
"I told you  _we_  had a plan…" – she explained, remaining calm. "Astria is still trapped in the Forbidden Dimension... and there's only one way to help her…"

Star closed her eyes, ready to embrace what once jokingly considered "her true form". A pair of majestic, colorful butterfly wings sprouted from her back, this time definitely bigger than the ones Marco saw only a couple of hours earlier back on Earth.  
The boy tried to say something, but nothing intelligible came out from his mouth. He wanted to scream, to tell her how stubborn and crazy she was; how her courage was really going to kill her this time; but then again, that was exactly why he loved her so much.

The wand, still in its sword-form, was now reaching the edges of the Mewni Dimension, floating dangerously close to the dark portal. Star turned again to Marco, his hand still holding hers. "Please, let me go…" – she insisted.

But he wasn't ready to let her go. He never was and never will be.  
They were best friends, the best interdimensional team in the Universe.  
And that's what Marco was thinking of, when he made his decision.

"Star… no matter what happens…" – he shouted. He took a long, deep breath and let the fence go. " _We're in this together!"_

The two teens were now both floating towards the Forbidden Dimension, literally "falling" up, as if gravity itself stopped existing. Star and Marco just stared at each other, their whole bodies slowly engulfed in the disturbing green light of the portal.

"What have you done, Marco…?! It's too dangerous!" - she uttered, in tears.  
"That's a risk I'm willing to take…" – the boy smiled reassuringly to her, taking her hands, gently pressing his forehead against hers. "Told you I'd welcome a little danger in my life…"

Much like gravity, apocalypse was another thing that seemingly stopped existing: it was just them, the blonde princess and the boy in the red hoodie.  
Despite the threatening destructive forces raging above them, they never felt so safe.  
It was probably inappropriate, the worst possible time to do that, but they both sensed it was a "now or never" situation apparently -and it was worth it.  
Their eyes closed, and their lips met; it was like their hearts froze for a short, infinite moment, only to start beating in unison. Star and Marco relived everything they experienced together in that kiss: those last, crazy four years, the dimensions they visited, their battles, their silly morning routines back on Earth, the laser puppies, the happy moments, even the sad ones. In a familiar twist, the princess and the boy fell in love; all the magical powers in the wand were nothing compared to the roller-coaster of emotions they were feeling during that unique, beautiful, but not endless moment.

Luxor's enraged roar brought the two teens back to the reality (or what was left of it). The dark prince was literally soaring towards them, the unnatural lack of gravity helping him defying every known law of physics. Star and Marco shared one last look at each other, just as the boy pushed the princess away from him; he propelled himself against the floating dark lord, keeping him busy with a series of uncoordinated karate moves.

"Star… go!" – he shouted, again gripping Luxor's horns.

The princess hesitated at first, but the insistent and ethereal voice of Astria caught her attention. She scoffed a bit this time and flapped her magical wings, quickly flying towards the sword-wand, now only a few feet away from the ominous portal. She grabbed the magical weapon and, without looking back, she crossed the gates of the Forbidden Dimension, just as the black hole and the portal's interactions reached a high, destructive level of instability.  
As Star disappeared, an explosion-like event soon followed, an incredibly strong shockwave that obliterated the highest towers of the royal palace.  
The unsettling green light of the dark portal turned into a blinding, bright flash.  
But for Marco, fallen unconscious, it all went pitch black.

**End of Chapter 17**


	18. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still shocked by Star's sacrifice, an exhausted Marco confronts the Dark Lord one final time.

**Chapter 18 – Reunited**

Barely nothing of the palace was left intact by the destructive closure of the Forbidden Dimension. Most towers collapsed and the throne room was a ghostly, empty mess of ruins, debris scattered all over what was once a checkered floor. The ceiling was completely gone, the entire place slowly getting lit by the warmer light of the dawn as the sky became clearer, with no apocalyptic portal looming over the Kingdom in sight.

A confused, limping Marco was aimlessly walking around the crumbled room, still shocked by what happened, by Star's sacrifice. He didn't know how much time passed, probably even less than ten minutes; he looked at the clearer sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the princess somehow coming back through another magical door of some sort, preferably alive. "At least those demons are gone…" he thought, noticing the relieving, yet still disturbing silence around him. The shade creatures were probably disoriented by the sudden closure of the Dark Gates and were easily disposed of, luckily before any other powerful alien-looking beast showed up.

The boy heard the distant voices of the people looking for survivors, precisely for "the princess" and "the human". He could barely tell what else they were saying, but recognizing Star's parents' voices in that chorus of intelligible noises was oddly depressing. "Who's gonna tell them…?" he admitted, finally accepting that the princess was truly gone this time. He fell on his knees, a couple of tears running down his face.

You don't know how much someone means for you until you lose them, but that was not true for Marco; he  _loved_  Star during every moment they've spent together, his only fault being that he didn't confess his feelings for her sooner.

He stopped caring about everything and everyone for a moment, like there was no real reason to fight anymore, even ignoring the loud, metallic footsteps getting closer behind him.

"A remarkable act of heroism…" – echoing in that unsettling silence, not even a scratch on his armor, Prince Luxor's deep voice sounded louder than usual. "Truly the bravest Princess I've ever known…" – he admitted.

Marco slowly turned around and got up on his feet, wiping his tears off, staring directly at the powerful enemy, the prince's eyes glowing more menacingly than usual. "The Darkness is gone… It's over Deimor… or Luxor… or whatever your name is…" – the kid stated.

Luxor didn't feel threatened at all by the small boy and chuckled in derision, stepping closer to him, the unnatural height difference becoming clearer.

"Actually… I'm afraid I've been blessed by all the powers I need, young man. I don't need the Forbidden Dimension anymore…" – he looked down to him, towering over the kid in red hoodie. "The dark energy I've absorbed during our fight up there is beyond your comprehension! I will destroy the Universe myself... piece by piece!"

The prince gently waved his left hand, the resulting spell being far from "gentle".  
Marco felt a sudden, invisible force violently pushing him away, like someone kicked him through the entire room –or what was left of it. He fell on the debris-covered floor, completely unable to endure or somehow dodge a second "blast" of that supernatural energy. The kid moaned in pain and clenched his teeth, resisting the urge to let out an enraged scream: last thing he wanted was giving to Luxor the satisfaction of seeing him suffer, both physically and mentally. He heard the prince walk towards him, his mechanical eyes turning this time blood red, green mane-like flames engulfing his entire helmet; Marco wasn't impressed by the dark lord's demonic appearance: he grabbed the nearest piece of debris and threw it at him, hitting the prince right into his robotic right eye.

Luxor staggered back, his eyes flickering a bit, but the "wound" healed itself quickly; the kid got up and dropped into a fighting stance, ready to fight one final battle against the much more powerful foe.  
 _For her._

"I can see why Princess Butterfly enjoyed your company…" – the prince admitted. "You're just as brave as her... I'm impressed…" - his iron hands started to glow, small bolts of lightning zapping through his metallic fingers. "But I'm sorry, Marco…  _there's no happy ending in this fairytale_ …".

He charged an ominous-looking spell, pointing his armored hand at him. Luxor narrowed his demonic eyes while the so-called "safe kid" didn't even flinch or move; but as the dark prince muttered something in his ancient language, he was himself hit by a powerful spell instead, a beam of light that literally fell from the sky.

Before they could even comprehend what happened, a small portal opened right above them and a winged, sword-wielding, humanoid figure quickly flew towards them, the magical gate immediately closing behind it.

"…S-Star?" – Marco stuttered, as the butterfly-winged princess landed in front of him. He wanted to say something or even hug her, but when he saw her glowing, bright white eyes, he realized that something was going to happen. The boy remained silent as Star, not saying a single word, turned to the dark lord, her ghostly gaze piercing right through his cursed armor.

"It can't be…"

For the first time, Luxor's arrogant behavior wore off: the Princess of Mewni was alive; he was terrified.  
Terrified by the much older, overwhelming yet familiar presence that she freed from the Forbidden Dimension.

Now it was Star's turn to speak in a dead language, muttering words she didn't even know existed. She jabbed the magic wand, still in its sword-form, into the ground in front of her, falling on her knees, the butterfly-wings shrinking, eventually "hiding" again under her dress; the wand shook violently and and disintegrated, only the Heart of Astria, its magical core, remaining intact.

The glowing, mighty heart-shaped crystal gently floated towards Luxor, an humanoid, ghost-like figure of a woman appearing all around it, a sight that made the prince say more intelligible words. Astria herself appeared before him as a tall, older, mature woman, her dark blue hair still glittering like a sky full of stars.

"Astria…" was the only barely audible thing he said, the actual vision of his ancient lover triggering an immense amount of emotions.  
The shining magical princess gently laid her hands on the prince's iron chest, passing right through his armor. Luxor's breath accelerated, this time feeling for real the woman's presence: after all this time, she was there, the girl he swore to love and protect, no matter what.

"I was doing this for you, Astria… Everything I've done, everything I've worked for… it was just for you…" – Luxor insisted, his deep, demonic voice this time completely broken by tears, tears that could be seen only by her.  
"Shhhh… It's over, Luxor. It doesn't matter anymore… it's time to finally move on… together..." – she whispered, calmly.

Astria's ethereal body started to shine, the bright light of her magic engulfing both her and Luxor. Star was still on her knees, exhausted and confused, witnessing a scene that normally only existed in fairytales; Marco quickly crouched in front of his royal friend and hugged her, using his own body in an attempt to protect her from the mysterious forces summoned by Astria. " _We're in this together_ …" – Star muttered, closing her eyes, hugging him back, feeling safe in the arms of the boy fittingly known as "the safe kid".

A tall pillar of light appeared right where Luxor and Astria were standing as a loud, ear-piercing whistling noise echoed through the entire Kingdom. A small earthquake struck the place and it all went silent in a moment. The ancient princess disappeared, her magical Heart still floating in front of Luxor.

But the prince was gone too.  
The eyes on the dark lord's armor flickered one final time and became pitch black, purple smoke gushing out of them; the armor then crumbled and fell into pieces like a lifeless puppet, revealing nothing inside, only a distant, barely audible scream.  
The Heart of Astria emitted one last tingling sound before cracking in the middle, breaking in half, the magical light powered by  _true love_  going out, forever, while all the Dimensional Scissors in the Universe deactivated in that exact moment.

The moment the  _magic_  died.

**End of Chapter 18**


	19. Coronation Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star and Marco are forced to say "Goodbye" to each other when the boy unexpectedly finds way to come back home.

**Chapter 19 – Coronation Day**

It was a beautiful morning.  
The sky was crystal clear, no clouds in sight, with occasional bright flashes of light here and there, a sign that the Dimensional Alignment was still in its climax.

The entire Kingdom of Mewni was alive and awake, celebrating the victory against the greater enemy alongside the different creatures that came from all over the Universe to help; the alleys were crowded by people singing, laughing together and normally-nighttime places such as the Gryphon's Inn or the Three-headed Unicorn opened earlier than usual, offering beers and other local beverages.  
Overlooking the finally peaceful town was the huge Royal Palace of Mewni, a heavily damaged, enormous building that was once adorned with tall dome-covered towers, undeniably still the Kingdom's most interesting sight.

People living in the palace were privileged with a stunning a view of the entire realm from above, a view that anyone would spend hours admiring; and that's exactly what a 17-years old princess was doing right now, deep in her thoughts.

"Not the coronation day you were expecting, I presume…"

Star turned to the Queen, her mother, sitting on a throne, King River standing next to her.  
They were in a small room, a place in the royal palace that was spared by all the destruction caused by the warfare and the Forbidden Dimension's dark entities. The "backup" throne was actually no more than a fancy armchair, but they didn't have the time to focus on those pointless details.

Nova closely inspected the two crystal pieces of the Heart of Astria, now looking more like a pair of worthless rocks, hoping that they were going to merge again into one mighty gem, a new core for a new magic wand perhaps.

"They don't know yet…" – Star realized. With the breakage of the ancient Heart, all the magical, love-driven force that powered the Dimensional Scissors was gone, the ability of dimension jumping lost forever. They were all stuck there, on Mewni, trapped in a single dimension for the rest of their lives, most of them even far from their loved ones.  
"Let them have their moment…" – the King replied. "Let them celebrate…".

"Not the coronation day  _I_  was expecting… that's for sure…"

Nova got up and slowly walked towards her daughter, handing the two pieces of the Heart of Astria to the princess, still the only worthy caretaker of the royal magic wand –or what was left it at least. "I've been wrong the whole time, apparently…"

Star was puzzled by her mother's words. "Wrong…? About what?" – she asked.  
"About you…" – she simply responded, in her usual decisive behavior.

The Queen took a deep breath and before her daughter could say anything else, she continued to talk. "All these years I thought your antics were tarnishing our family name, but I was wrong. Turns out they were not laughing at you, Star… but  _with_  you…" – she pointed at the window overlooking the Kingdom. "They all came here…  _for you_. Squares, Insectoids, Florians, Pixies… even our enemies are here!"

For the first time, Star's mother sounded confused and insecure, but the princess could feel a sense of pride and acceptance in her words.

"Making you Queen means trapping my only daughter in her own dimension… a daughter that just like the magical princess of that old fairytale only wants to see the Universe, make new friends, all while spreading love and happiness wherever she goes… in her own, twisted way…"

The King handed a long piece of paper to his wife, which Star recognized as "the scroll of shame" from a couple of days earlier. The Queen didn't bother to read that long list of "preposterous things" again and quickly shredded the now useless scroll into pieces as a bright smile popped up on Star's face.

"But… now it's too late…" – Nova murmured, her own smile disappearing. "The magic is gone… I'm sorry..." - she looked devastated as her egoistical dream of keeping her daughter on Mewni came true. "Will you ever forgive me…?"

Hearing the Queen beg for forgiveness was a wild experience for the princess. Star just stood there in silence, staring at her sad, exhausted mother. "I could never forgive you…" – she finally replied. "…because I've never been mad at you…".

She sprinted towards her mother and hugged her tightly; Nova, relieved, returned the act of affection, a single tear of joy running down her diamond-shaped cheek. The King playfully said something like "Don't forget your dad!" and turned the touching moment into a group hug, an unique experience for the Butterfly royal family.

"From now on… I will trust every decision you make…" – the Queen said.  
"Thanks, mom! I was just thinking that those wild Unicorns from earlier should come live with us in the palace…" – Star joked, finding her mother's terrified expression funnier than expected. "I'm just kidding!" – she chuckled, the King laughing with her, Nova immediately scolding him with a darting glare.

"Now, if you excuse me, there's something important I need to do…"  
The royal parents nodded to her and exchanged a knowing look. "Oh… take all the time you need, my darling. We're not going anywhere…" – River said, caressing his beard. "Take the Heart of Astria with you… don't forget you're still the caretaker of the wand, no matter what form it takes…".

As the smiling princess left them alone Nova, puzzled, looked at her husband. "Is there something I should know…?" – but River simply chuckled in response, like he just found out some embarrassing secret...

* * *

The original throne room was a messy, empty, silent but oddly peaceful pile of ruins. Marco's red hoodie was the most colorful thing in all that devastation, the bright colors of the palace's most important room completely unrecognizable. He joined the celebrations for a bit, repulsing Cloro's attempts at making him drink some kind of local beverage: he needed to spend some time alone. Despite knowing the true, terrifying meaning behind the destruction of the magical heart-shaped crystal, Marco was still happy it was over, maybe over forever, but not the way he expected. He stared at what was left of Mewni's throne, imagining Star sitting on that important chair, finally as the Queen she deserves to be; the boy walked towards it, only to step on something sharp. "Oh look… they survived…" he thought, as he picked up Luxor's big pair of –now worthless- Dimensional Scissors, the oldest one in the Universe, the one used by Star to open the black hole that saved everyone; like all magical scissors, the tiny gem embedded in its handle used to glow in a faint, colorful light, powered by the truest and deepest love, just as told in that old fairytale that his royal friend liked so much.

"You should've seen this place during the Grand Millennium Ball of Mewni…" – Star's voice echoed in that room, easily getting Marco's attention. "I was like 7 back then… there were some beautiful tapestries hanging from the ceiling… there was an orchestra... and people danced the whole night…"  
"I'm sure it was great…" – the boy replied, slowly walking towards her.

Star noticed that he was holding that pair of ancient scissors and felt even more embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Marco… I wish there was another way to send you back on Earth…".  
The kid chuckled nervously. "I'm starting to get used it… Mewni is cool… and my parents…" – but he couldn't hide his true, sadder emotions. "My parents will be fine…".

"We will find another way…" – she insisted, not fully convinced by her own words.  
"Another way…?" – Marco replied, amused, noticing the princess' attempt at making him feel better. "I don't know, Star. If you ask me, nothing beats a pair of Dimensional Scissors. I mean, you literally shred the fabric of reality with these things! You simply do this and…"

The moment he mimicked the gesture of opening a portal, the light in the scissors' gem came back for a moment and a small, unstable magical gate leading to Earth started to appear in front of him. They were startled.

"W-what?! H-how?!" – Marco stuttered, incredulous.  
"Well… those were the first Dimensional Scissors created, so they probably had a bit of power left…" – she explained.

Marco stared at her, still confused, and then turned to the portal. "I can go home!" – he suddenly shouted, excitedly, seconds later realizing the meaning of that. He turned back to Star and his heart stopped for a moment: he still wasn't ready to let her go, even when  _he_  was the one leaving; but he couldn't stay on Mewni forever either and definitely didn't even consider the egotistical idea of asking her to follow him back on Earth a solution.

It was time to move on, to say goodbye for real.  
He wiped his tears off and stepped towards the portal.

"Wait, Marco… before you go…" – Star quickly handed to him one half of the Heart of Astria, forcing him to keep it. "Here, take it. I know, it's silly… but I know people do this kind of stuff on Earth when they leave. This way… you will never forget the time we spent together…" – she said, rather nervously, her pink cheeks glowing a bit.

Marco chuckled, inspecting what was once the powerful crystal core of the magic wand and put it in one of his pockets. "Star… I could never forget you… even if I was kidnapped by those weirdos from St. Olga's and brainwashed… trust me… I would never, ever forget you…".

The weak portal produced some weird sounds, becoming more unstable, something that Star noticed.

"Marco, if you don't go now, you will be stuck here forever…"  
The boy didn't seem to care and stepped closer to her instead, taking her hands.  
Their foreheads gently touched as Star's cheeks became warmer.

"The portal is closing…" – she insisted.  
"That's a risk I'm willing to take…" – he stated, smiling reassuringly.

She then felt Marco's lips on her own; surprised at first, Star closed her eyes and kissed him back passionately, as if she only then realized that their adventure together was over. It was like those last four years have been no more than an intricate plot made by the Universe to make the princess and the boy fall for each other, only to have them separated at the worst possible time, just as they were realizing their true feelings.

The portal flickered alarmingly, forcing the two teens to snap back into reality.  
"Goodbye, Star…" – he whispered, tears rolling down his face.

Marco turned to the portal and stepped through it, the blurry shapes of his bedroom on Earth appearing in front of him.  
After one final moment of hesitation, he jumped into it, leaving Mewni and Star behind.  
Forever.

The magical gate closed abruptly, leaving Star alone in the Kingdom celebrating its victory against the common enemy.  
She just stood there, staring at her own piece of the Heart of Astria, realizing that the ancient princess from her favorite fairytale was not the only one with a broken heart.

"Goodbye, Marco..."

**End of Chapter 19**


	20. (Epilogue) - Storybook Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When deepest, sincere love once again shatters the borders between the different worlds, history repeats itself, and Star and Marco realize that maybe there's a happy ending in this fairytale...

**Chapter 20 – Storybook Ending** **  
**

The last interdimensional portal in history disappeared before her eyes.  
She took a deep, long breath, trying to accept that it was over. Star noticed Luxor's ancient pair of scissors on the debris-covered floor, the light in its gem now completely gone; she shook her head and left them there: she already had a souvenir of what happened in the last few days. She looked again at her half of the Heart of Astria and headed towards the enormous breach in the wall that used to be the tall, fancy door of the throne room.

"Are you OK, my darling?" – the King greeted her just outside of the palace, the Queen standing in her usual dignified posture next to him.

A forced smile popped up on Star's face, but she was glad that her parents were being so supportive, even though they didn't say much.

"I'm fine… I'll be fine…" – she said, shedding one more tear.

The King surprisingly started to laugh a bit, his wide smile hidden under his long, white beard, his joyful reaction puzzling both the princess and the Queen.

"I told you it wasn't a legend…" – he said, his laugh becoming more cheerful.

Star was confused, but then noticed that her mother started to smile as well, as if they saw something funny behind her. Or  _on_  her.  
The princess felt something warm between her hands as a faint light slowly got brighter in the mighty heart-shaped crystal she was holding.

"How?! How is this possible?!" – she questioned, startled.  
But she already knew the answer.  
It was so obvious.

"I told you it wasn't legend!" – the King exulted, taking his wife's hands and improvising some kind of victory dance, the Queen laughing with him like she never did before.

Star closely inspected the piece of Heart of Astria, its light getting stronger.

"Now you can go anywhere you want… anywhere in the entire Universe!" – Nova said. "…but nobody said you have to do it alone… right?" – she then added, with a knowing smile.

The princess hugged her parents again and then rushed towards Luxor's scissors. She picked them up, its gem flickering, as if some kind of mysterious energy was trying to activate it.  
But that  _energy_  was not a mystery at all.

She slashed the fabric of reality in front of her, opening another small, unstable portal.  
Star wanted to see the Universe, make the most out of her interdimensional life.  
And possibly share this wonderful adventure with the people she loved.

* * *

The laser puppies never looked so unhappy and unenthusiastic.  
They were all lying on Marco's bed in complete silence, not even a laser beam coming out of their eyes. It was like they knew what happened and seeing their young owner devastated by his loss was not helping at all.

He was standing by the window, hands in his pockets, nervously scratching his fingers on the hard surface of his half of the Heart of Astria. Marco wasn't crying, not anymore anyway –he probably ran out of tears. It's been only mere minutes since he last saw Star and was already missing her. The house already felt so empty without the wayward princess: he always thought that her lively energy was her greatest magic power –not that narwhal blasts weren't cool, of course. But it wasn't just the house: his  _life_  felt already different, incomplete, like there was a big missing piece in the middle of a colorful puzzle, a piece he will never be able to find.

Deep in his rollercoaster of emotions, he almost jumped out of fear when the puppies started to bark at an indefinite spot in his room.

"What?! Did you see something?" – he asked, the tiny dogs barking excitedly.

A blinding flash of light engulfed the entire place as a colorful portal materialized in the middle of the bedroom. Marco didn't even have the time to react as he saw Star emerging from it, the soft wind caused by the magical force of the supernatural gate gently blowing through her blonde hair. She had the brightest smile on her face, brighter than the portal itself, the glimmering in her beautiful blue eyes revealing a couple of tears.  
Tears of joy; tears that Marco felt running down on his own face too –he didn't really run out of them apparently.

"S-Star…?" – he whispered, returning her smile.  
"Looks like  _there is_  a happy ending in this fairytale after all!" – she said, as the light coming from her half of the ancient heart-shaped gem got even stronger.

Marco pulled out his own piece out of his pocket: it was glowing too.  
The two pieces quickly floated towards each other like two magnets and merged into one magical Heart, tingling and glowing in all the known colors. The Dimensional Scissors all over the Universe re-activated, the new source of deep, interdimensional true love that powered the heart-shaped gem once again shattering the borders between the different worlds.  
Just like in that old fairytale.

Star and Marco laughed cheerfully as they ran into each other's arms and kissed one more time, blessed by the magical light of the new mighty crystal shining right above them. The now tail-wagging puppies shot their lasers as if they were fireworks, barking in joy while happily bouncing on the boy's bed.

Hugging tightly, Star and Marco realized that they finally had nothing to worry about, nothing to fear: their adventures were far from over.

On the contrary, it felt like their greatest adventure had just begun.

There was a whole Universe around them, a Universe full of dimensions to visit, mysteries to solve, monsters to battle, enemies to defeat and friends to help.

And they were all waiting for them.

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks everyone for reading!  
> Hope you enjoyed.
> 
> Star Vs. The Forces of Evil (C) Daron Nefcy and Disney


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